It is a true blessing to me to worship with you. And I don't
say this, I don't guess I ever have, but when one of you is
not here, it affects me. And for whatever reason, I want
us to be Well, you know what a family
is. It's the same with any family. We love to see one another and
do the things that matter together. And I'm honestly, that's precious
to me. By God's grace, it is. And it
doesn't matter about how many. You know that. I hope you know
that. If there was five of you and I was able to feed my family
and preach to you. I'd preach to you. If there was
only four, I might have to call it, but no. You know what I'm saying. I know
you feel the same way. What a blessing it is to gather
together, and what a privilege it is. Well, let's look at Matthew
23 together for a little while. And now in the Beatitudes, what
we call the Beatitudes, our Lord describes what a believer is. Not just what we ought to be,
but what we are. What a believer is. And here
in this chapter, our Lord tells us what not to do. And this is
so interesting to me. Is it remarkable to you And think about the impact that
this must have had on those who heard him speak that day. And what I mean by that is this.
He gives this lengthy discourse here in chapter 23 on what not
to do, how not to be, how not to act, and as his direct examples
of what not to be, do, and how to act. He uses the religious
leaders of the day. The ones who everybody thought,
that's how you're supposed to be. Those are the godly ones.
Those are our examples. Really? But our Lord took, and
think about that in our day now. Who is it that people look up
to in religion? He took the Billy Graham's and
the Benny Hinn's and the Joel Osteen's and they were all gathered
around and he said, do not be like them. You think about that. Would that have gotten some people's
attention? Then and now, I pray. It's exactly the same today now.
And by God's grace, and you know, you feel the same way, you don't
even, whenever I go somewhere, I don't want to be known as a
preacher unless I have an opportunity to explain what that is. I don't
want people just to know I'm a preacher, and that's all, because
I don't want to be associated with what's called preachers
in my day, at all. And I know you feel the same
way about being called a Christian. Unless you have an opportunity
to explain to them what that is, you don't even want them
to know that that's what you are. Because they're going to
associate you with everybody else that calls themselves that,
and you don't want to be associated with them. And I don't either. They're the worst examples of
human behavior and are the most repulsive wretches on God's earth.
I'm talking about compared to hookers and murderers and gamblers
and every scum of the earth you can think of. The worst scum
on God's earth. And we say this is scriptural
now. God hates a proud look. And he spoke kindly to harlots.
He didn't have a kind word for these birds. And I don't either,
and I don't have the authority that he had, of course, but on
his authority, and I believe there's just no way that a believer
can help but despise organized, free will, man-centered religion. Now I'm talking about The ones
who propagate this. The ones who were deceived by
them. Our Lord was kind and gracious and taught them patiently. But
the ones, the leaders, the blind leaders of the blind. He said,
leave them alone. You stay away from them and don't,
whatever you do, don't do what they do. I guarantee you that
shocked some people. I guarantee you that did. The
worst examples. I just about have anybody, anything
living next door to me than a preacher. How about you? I'm not talking about God's preachers.
You know that. I'm talking about the world's
preachers. God's preachers aren't the same as the world's preachers.
This world doesn't care anything about God's preachers. And the
Lord told us why. He said if you were of the world,
or his people for that matter, if you were of the world, the
world would love his own, but because you're not of this world.
But I've chosen you out of the world. That's why you're not
of this world. Not because you were born different to them,
but because I chose you out of this world. Therefore, the world
hates you, and we hate them too. David said, I hate them with
a perfect hatred. Do not I hate them that hate
you? But find a so-called preacher that the community as a whole
embraces, and you'll find one of these ones our Lord was talking
to right here. to a man. And he gives us clear marks here
by which to identify them. And rather than take the time
to read the whole chapter, I hope you will. But we'll look at these,
some of these individually. And I pray that the Lord will
bless this to us. He said, number one, they say
and do not. Does that ring any bell? They
say they preach the Bible. Isn't that the pretense upon
which they call people to gather together? We're going to teach
you the Bible today, but never open it. If they open it one
time, they might quote one scripture and then go off on who knows
what. Clearly, they say they open,
they teach the Bible, and clearly they do not. They teach exactly
the opposite. They say they speak for God,
but clearly they do not. God said they don't. If they
don't speak according to the words of this prophecy, I didn't
put any light in them. I didn't send them. They say
they serve God, but they don't. Our Lord identified him in Matthew
21. We just saw this not long ago. Let me read you Matthew
21, 28, or flip back over there if you want to. He said, well,
thank you. A certain man had two sons. He came to the first
and said, son, go work today in my vineyard. And he said,
no, I'm not. I will not. But afterward, he
repented and went and served. And then he sent another son
and said, go work in my vineyard. He said, oh, yeah, I'll go. Of
course. Father, I've got nothing special
to do. I'll go do what you say. And
then he didn't. And that's what he's telling
them. They say and they do not. They say they serve God. They
call themselves all kinds of religious names and things like
that. God said you're a generation of vipers. And this principle characterizes
everything they do. Their word is absolutely worthless.
It takes the grace of God for a man to be to have a good word,
to be true to His word. Did you know that? I can testify
to this from my own experience. Their word is absolutely worthless
to a man there this way. And you see, it's this kind of
man who will lie on God. That's the kind of man who lies
on God. What he says, he says flippantly
and without thought, without consideration. He does it for
his own advantage, you see, not to be true to God, to His word.
This is the nature of man without God's grace. Verse four is an example of this
principle manifesting itself in them. They bind heavy burdens
and grievance to be born and lay them on your shoulders, but
they themselves will not move one of their fingers. This is
exactly what Paul addressed in Romans chapter two, verse 17.
Let's look at it for a second. They tell you how to be. He said,
behold, in verse 17 of Romans two, you're called a Jew and
you take great pride in that you rest in the law and make
your boast of God. Oh, we have the oracles of God.
We know God's word and. We're the authorities on the
scriptures and look down on everybody else. and knowest His will, and
approvest the things that are more excellent, you set yourself
up as the examples being instructed out of the law, and are confident
that thou thyself art a guide of the blind. By the way, that
reminds us our Lord called blind leaders of the blind. But you
say you're a guide of the blind? A light of them which are in
darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes,
which has the form of knowledge and of the truth and the law,
Thou, therefore, which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?
Have you learned anything? Thou that preachest, a man should
not steal. Do you steal? Thou that sayest, a man should
not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest
idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of
the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God. You
say you're better than ever. You know better. I know more
than you. Let me enlighten you. Really? That's not what this
is about. This is one sinner to another.
Here's what God said. Not look at me. For the name of God is blasphemed
among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. In other words,
even the Gentiles who don't know anything about God know that
you're not authorities on God. I can see that. This world can
see that these ones that call themselves religious authorities
in our day are false. Anybody can see that. You know
the only ones that can't see it? The ones that are there listening
to them. The blind. Blind leaders of the blind. Even
the openly ungodly aren't stupid enough to sit there and listen
to them. Only the religious. Number two, they do everything
they do to be seen and respected of men. Our Lord knows them,
doesn't he? He's given us a little bit of
perception on this. They do everything they do to
be seen. They make sure they wear some
kind of a collar or something that makes you know that they're
religious big shots. They want you to know who they
are. religious symbols that they might wear. That's what these
phylacteries were. In verse 5, he said, all their
works they do for to be seen of men. Not to please God, not
to obey God, not to serve God, not to glorify God. To be seen
of men and respected and promoted and bragged on. They make broad their phylacteries
and enlarge the borders of their garments. You see, they do, they
wear certain things to be identified. To separate, to distinguish themselves
from others. Is that repulsive to you? There's
not that many things that'll repulse me. Well, I guess it's
just by God's grace we hate what he hates. Isn't that what he
said about Joe? He fears me and he hates evil.
And I'm telling you, you know this now. There's nothing more
evil. What they're identifying themselves
as to me is evil. And it's clear. It's on their
face as well as their clothes. And everything they say and everything
they do. Notice in verse six, they like
to be recognized and rewarded for who they are. They love the
uppermost rooms at feasts, and men are wanting them to have
it. Oh, this is Bishop so-and-so. Come sit over here. They want
to be rewarded. They want perks for who they
are. Chief seats in the synagogues,
and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi,
Rabbi, Teacher, Teacher, Master. They love titles, Father so-and-so,
and Bishop so-and-so, and Reverend so-and-so. I've been called reverend
a few times. I'm quick to correct that. Got
to be. Got to be. Our Lord said clearly
in verses 8 through 10, do not let men do that. Do you not be
called rabbi? For one is your master. That's
why the reason that you can't be called that is because you
have one master. It's not just elevating you somewhere
you ought not to be. It's dishonoring to the master.
You hear what he said? That's why we've got to correct
that. That's not right. You don't reverence me. That's
what that angel said to John. No, you don't worship me. Let's
worship him who's on the throne. That's what Peter said to Cornelius.
No. Get up, let you and I go in your house and we'll worship
the one who's worthy to be worshipped. No, don't be called rabbi. Don't
be called master. All of you are brothers. And
you're not one of you higher than another one. And call no
man your father upon the earth. Should that raise a red flag
to somebody? Don't you call them father. Don't do that. So what
do they do? And here's the primary reason,
because one is your father, and he's in heaven and you're not.
It's dishonoring to him. Neither be ye called master,
for one is your master, the one that's talking to you, even Christ. You're not just making too much
of yourself, but you're You're making yourself a rival
to the one who is worthy to be called Master, whose name is
Reverend. Holy and Reverend, David said, is his name. Our Lord said the great ones
among you, verse 11, he that's greatest among you will be your
servant. That's how you'll identify who's great. It's the one that's
serving. Would you describe these pampered,
manicured, $500 suit wearing preachers as servants? They don't know the meaning of
the word. The religious leaders, the priest,
and the Levite, and Luke 10 that saw that poor man in the ditch
bleeding out, what did they do? They passed by on the other side.
Absolutely worthless. In the one situation now, if
you were worthless the whole rest of your life, and had that
one opportunity there, in God's promise to do something to help
somebody. Surely, you didn't leave. If
you saw a dog laying in the ditch, you'd do something to help it,
wouldn't you? But they passed by on the other side. They wouldn't
even walk close to it. And this characterizes them as
our Lord teaches here in all that they do, temporal and spiritual. They're absolutely worthless
to anybody that needs any help. Are you a sinner? You're not
going to get any help from them. They got nothing for you. If
you just need somebody to meet you halfway, you know, then that's one thing. But if you're
a sinner, if you're depraved and lost and helpless and hopeless
before God, they got nothing for you. Verse 13, we see another mark.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the
kingdom of heaven against men. For you neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering. To go in. They're not
satisfied with despising the Lord Jesus Christ themselves
and despising clearly contradicting the Word of God openly. Just themselves. But they want
everybody they meet to go to hell with them. I sat in the
office of a man as a young teenager and discussed the truths of God's
sovereign grace. I was naive. I actually thought,
you know, this man's a preacher and surely he, you know, surely
he's seen the truth in God's Word. I was honestly curious. Have you ever seen? What do you
think about these things, these scriptures, this truth? It's
taught everywhere in God's Word. Talked about the truth of God's
sovereign grace in Christ, and of Christ's redemptive blood,
and how that all for whom he died were redeemed by that blood.
He said, I lay down my life for my sheep, and they're not ever
going to perish. And he said to me, if I preached
that, it would split this church. And so, not being willing to
abandon his own interests for the sake of Christ and his gospel,
he went online to those people who listened to him, And Christ said here in our text
that what you're doing is barring the way into the kingdom of heaven.
Do you imagine there's a, what kind of a hot corner of hell
is reserved for somebody that would do that? In Luke 11, 52,
he said, woe unto you lawyers, for you have taken away the kingdom,
the key of knowledge. You've taken away the key of
knowledge. You know what the key of knowledge
is? Christ, as he's revealed in this book. They preach a Jesus
that's waiting in the corner for man to do something and not
the sovereign, invincible, victorious, redeeming Christ of the Bible. And they've taken away the key
of knowledge. He said, you've not entered in yourselves and
them that were entering you hindered. And remember the first three
words he said to them, woe unto you. And in verse 14, he said,
you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrite, woe unto you. For you devour
widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore you
shall receive the greater damnation. I don't know what that is, and
I don't want to know. Do you? I don't want to know
what that is. What does it mean to devour widows'
houses? Well, they devour many houses,
all kinds of houses, but this is the most despicable example. If you're going to devour houses. A widow's house. They shame and
threaten and bribe people into sending them millions and millions
of dollars. And it's stealing, plain and
simple is what it is. It's gaining money by dishonest
means. It's just flat stealing, lying
and stealing. And does this still characterize
religion today? He wasn't just talking to them.
He's talking about the Pharisees of every age. It still characterizes
religion today, and it's all about the money. Always has been,
and always will be. I don't need to give you specific
examples. You can turn it on for five minutes and see it,
can't you? In verse 15, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
for you compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when
he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Does that ring any bells? Land
and sea. Oh, we've got to go to Africa.
If you'll just send us enough money, we've got to spread the
gospel to the whole world. We got to spread this nonsense about Jesus has done
all he can do and now it's up to you. And you just need to
exercise your free will. We got to tell everybody in the
world that. I just communicated with a man on the email. He sent
me an email and wanted to meet me and said that he had planted
churches in Haiti and now he was starting one here. in Thompson
Station, I believe it was, somewhere in this area. I said I'd be happy
to meet him, but that I was very busy and I wanted to know a little
bit more about him first. And I confronted him. I asked
him concerning one scriptural issue that will tell you real
quick whether somebody believes God or not. And that's all I
want to know. I want to know if he believes
God or not. You know what the quickest way to tell that is?
Find out if they preach that God loves everybody. Well, there's
a lot of quick ways to tell. Did the Lord Jesus Christ die
to save every sinner that ever lived? You could ask a lot of
questions. But when the Word of God clearly,
when God said, I hate somebody specifically, and then generally
said, I hate all workers of iniquity, and somebody preaches God loves
everybody, you're not talking to somebody that believes God.
Simple. It's just simple. And he wrote
me back and said, well, if you're too busy, I understand. That's
all he got out of that whole email. If you're too busy, I
understand. Completely ignored the question.
That told me all I needed to know. Right there. He's compassed
land and sea. He's been to Haiti and back to
make one proselyte or however many he's made. And everything
that he has done and everything that he's doing is based upon
a lie. He doesn't believe God. And the
poor people that he gives false hope to with his false doctrine,
Christ said, are twofold more the child of hell for it. You
know why? Because they didn't have a false
refuge before, now they do. Good work. Good work. You talk
about the greater damnation. He pronounced woe upon them.
Everybody they get saved is trusting in a false refuge. And they ask him a few questions
and they answer just like anybody would. Have you ever met anybody
that didn't want to go to heaven when they died? That wasn't sorry
for some things that they'd done? And then they say, you're as
sure for heaven as if you were already there. God's preachers
are just sowing the seed. We're sowing the seed is the
Word of God. And we're waiting on God to give
the increase. And then verse six, look at verse
23, number six. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and
have omitted the weightier matters of the law. And he mentions those
three things because there's some things that you wouldn't
even think of tithing. He said, even you're so meticulous about
the outward deeds of the law that even the mint that grows
in your yard, you're sure to give 10% of it. And yet, you
never say anything or do anything about the judgment of God, or
the mercy of God, or the faith of God's elect. You see that? That's what they're going around
preaching. If you just pay, if you pay, if you tithe on your
mint and your anise and your cumin and all the other things
that you're supposed to do. And today it's just the same
thing. Get rid of your television set, you know, and make sure
you go witnessing on Tuesday night with us and, and, and read
your Bible through every year and give, you know, 10%, pay
your tithe and do all of that and all will be well with you.
It's the same thing. And never talking about judgment
or mercy. Who's going to tell a sinner
about the mercy of God? That's what I want to know. Don't
eat where they serve beer though. Oh no, don't do that. It's what they're not saying.
Did you notice the word omit? Some of the outward things are
not to be left undone, he said. Some of them are just made up.
I'll tell you right now, I'm not getting rid of my TV. If
you're getting rid of yours, let me know. It might be bigger
than mine. Where do you see that in God's
Word? Some of the outward things that God teaches are not to be
left undone. That's the will of God, isn't
it? If my father expresses his will, if I'm his loving child,
I want to do it. That shouldn't be left undone.
Oh, but don't omit the weightier things. There's something more
important than that, you see. Because sinners aren't saved
by doing those things. We're not doing them. There's weightier things that
have been omitted. Certainly we ought to read our
Bible, however long it takes you to do it. You want to do
it in a year or three years, or in three months, however long
it takes you to read your Bible and pray. Believers are going
to do that, aren't they? And we should be encouraged to
do that and exhorted to do that. But our Lord said it's what they
don't observe or teach. It's what they omit. Judgment.
Think about these three things that he mentioned. Judgment,
mercy, and faith. If you omit those, well, you're
what we've already said you are. You're worthless. You're completely
worthless. The judgment of God against sin. You think that's what we're talking
about? a so-called preacher gets up
at a funeral and there's a dead body laying right there and they
tell jokes instead of talking about the judgment of God against
sin. What is death? Why do people
die? The judgment of God against sin. Do you know this is why God gave
his law to begin with? Why he wrote on those tables
of stone? Why he told Moses what all to write down that we have
in the book of Leviticus and all Really his whole word. And
they're sticklers for the observance, the outward, down to the minute
detail of the outward observance of the law. But why did God give
his law to sinners at all? Romans 3.19, Now we know that
what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. It doesn't say anything there
about you acting better. It doesn't say anything about
you paying your tithe there. God didn't give the law so you'd
pay your tithe. He gave the law so you would confess your guilt
before Him. He shined the light in your darkness
so you would see how dark. Paul said, sin became exceeding
sinful when the law came. That's why God sent it. To cause
you to despair of self and say, I'm guilty before God. What am
I going to do? What am I going to do? Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by
the law is the knowledge of sin, not the remission of sin. How is the remission of sin?
Blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. Do you think that might be useful?
When you're getting up behind the pulpit and you're telling
people what to do and don't do? You think it might be worth mentioning?
Oh, by the way, what you do or don't do can't save you? No matter
what you do or stop doing, you can't be saved like that, Paul
said. You can't be justified before God. No matter how perfectly you may
think you observe all of the religious Christian duties that
are set before you, you're still vile and wretched in the sight
of God. And he must put you in hell where
you belong. What hope is there then? Well, he said, you've omitted something
else. Mercy. Mercy. You're not going to be interested
in mercy until you hear something about judgment. Oh, but if you ever do, if sin ever does become your
sin, become exceeding sinful by God's grace, by Him applying
His law to your heart as it is in spiritual truth, you won't
have any problem with sovereign mercy anymore. I guarantee you
that. Sinners are saved by the mercy
of God. We're rendered vile and hopeless
and helpless by his law. But the sovereign eternal mercy
of God, the father who chose a people in Christ and blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
before the foundation of the world. That's the sinner's home. Paul said, We're bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of his
spirit and belief of his truth. The mercy of the Father, the
mercy of which God spoke to Jeremiah when he said, before I formed
you in your mama's belly, I loved you. And before you came forth
out of the womb, I sanctified you. You were holy before you
ever came out of the womb. the invincible mercy of the Son,
the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood
has redeemed us from our sins. Who's talking about that? Who's
talking about mercy this morning, I wonder? We've heard of judgment, but
Paul asks, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ the God. There is therefore now no judgment,
no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Why? Because he came down here and
lived for them and died for them in their stead as their representative,
as their sin offering. There's no condemnation. He bore
it all for them. If the Lord Jesus Christ shed
his precious blood to pay for your sins, then your sins are
paid for. And then, the almighty mercy
of God the Holy Spirit. Who's talking about the mercy
of God the Spirit who came where we were and breathed life into
these dead, exceeding dry bones? It's the Spirit that quickeneth,
the Lord said, the flesh profits nothing. We were born again, born from
above of the Spirit of God. And now, Christ said, you can
see and enter the kingdom. But not until. And this brings
us to the third word that he used to describe what is omitted
in false religion, in the gospel of false religion, so-called
gospel. Faith. Faith. When the true gospel is
preached, the Spirit of God comes and gives life and faith. Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The Word
must be mixed with faith in them that hear it, and that's the
work of God the Holy Spirit. By grace are you saved through
faith. It is of faith, Paul said, that it might be by grace to
the end that the promise might be sure to all to see. It's not
a crapshoot. It's not He's done all He can
do and now it's up to you. The promise is sure to everyone
He made it to. How? By grace through faith. Romans 4, 16. And these are the
truths, the vital gospel truths that are omitted. They're left
out of the preaching of our day just like they were then. And
because they are, sinners are perishing in their sins. He said
you're hindering them If you won't enter in yourself, you
don't want anybody else to enter in. And I pray that God, God
forbid, that we omit the weighty matters of the gospel. Paul said, I have not shunned
to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. May that be true
of us. And then the seventh thing, and
I'll hurry, We've talked about this before, outside and inside.
You clean the outside, but the inside is dead. There's death
in here. The outside can seemingly be
improved by rules and law and threats and bribes, but only
God, by the preaching of the gospel, can change a man's heart.
He said, I'll give you a new heart. That's what you need.
Not a new leaf turned over, a new heart. If the heart be changed,
then everything's new. All things have become new. And
then the eighth thing in verses 23 through 32, we won't read
all of them. But look at the last thing he
said to them. I won't read that passage to you because we're
out of time. But he said to them there, You build the tombs of
the prophets, verse 29, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous,
and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would
not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Wherefore, ye be witnesses unto yourselves. When you say that,
you're proving that you're the children of them which kill the
prophets. And they pray to the saints,
don't they? Saint Peter got a little picture of them on their dashboard,
or a statue of the saints. And they're the ones that killed
the saints. If Paul or Peter, any of those saints that they
have in their living room or wherever, came and preached to
them, they'd stone them to death. They bragging on them, but they
hated them. And one thing that our Lord said
in John 5 teaches this perfectly, and I'll just quote it. He said,
don't think that I'll accuse you to the Father. There's one
that accuses you, even Moses, in whom you say you trust. You
say you trust Moses. But if you had believed Moses,
you would believe me. For he wrote of me. Isn't that? Oh. If you believe not his writings,
how shall you believe my words? You're bragging on Moses. Moses
is our father. Moses gave us bread. He said
Moses didn't give you anything. I did. I am the bread. I gave you the bread. And if
you believe anything Moses said, you'd believe what I'm telling
you. A preacher named Oral Roberts once said that if he had been
present at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, he would have stopped
it. Isn't that what our Lord just said? He said, you say you
wouldn't have been. You wouldn't have killed the
prophets if you'd been alive. I think that might be the stupidest
thing I've ever heard anybody say about you. That I would have
stopped the crucifixion. You think how stupid that is
and how many levels it's stupid. You think you ever read that
verse right there? The Lord said, you say that you wouldn't have
killed him and just saying that proves that you're one of them. Thank God for grace to see ourselves
as we are. To see Him in His glory, to by
His grace know something of judgment and mercy and faith. To see how God can be God and
we who we are and God yet save us by His Son and by what He
did and how He died. May He reveal to us the weightier
matter of His Word and have mercy on us, and give us a new heart,
and make all things new. As you see, we're talking about
ourselves by nature this morning. We're all these things, treacherous
and vile and proud. And he said to his disciples,
blessed are your ears, for they hear. And blessed are your eyes,
for they see. If the blind lead the blind,
they'll both fall in the ditch. May God give us eyes. That's
perfect.