Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Matthew chapter 23. Then spake Jesus to the multitude
and to His disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they
bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye after their
works, for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens,
grievous to be born, and lay them on men's shoulders, but
they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for
to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries,
and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost
rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogue. and greetings
in the markets, and to be called of men, Master, Master. But be not ye called Rabbi, for
one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon
the earth, for one is your Father which is in heaven. Neither be
ye called Masters, for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among
you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself
shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be
exalted." Now, the statement that our Lord
made to the Pharisees was not a confirmation of their calling. When He said, they sat in Moses'
seat, He's not saying, This is not a confirmation of their calling. Over and over and over, He warns
them about these Pharisees being false prophets. And I don't know
how many times in the book of Matthew that we've run across
that. And especially in the last chapter, and the one before that,
He tells them plainly that the Kingdom of God is going to be
taken from them and given to another nation. given to strangers. And so this is not a confirmation
of their calling, authority, or message, but simply given
to preserve the sanctity of the things that was established under
His servant Moses. Now, I wrestle constantly with
this in my study and in my messages. I want men and women to recognize
the evil of worldly religion without destroying the ways and
the means that God has sanctified. Preaching can be, when it's done
by a hypocrite, when it's done by a false prophet, it can be
a dangerous thing. And it can be an ignorant thing.
a thing that's an abomination to God. But by the same token,
preaching is the means ordained of God to call His elect out
of this world. And I don't want to destroy that.
And these people sat under an economy that was established
through God's servant Moses, and the things that they commanded
for the people to do It was legitimate. They were to bring these sacrifices. They were to offer these things.
They were to recognize the priesthood. They were to carry out these
ceremonies in faith. But these Pharisees were hypocrites
and blind. They didn't understand that.
They had no faith. They had no knowledge of the
truth. And so the Lord begins to talk to them now about the
heart of a hypocrite. if you were an evil pastor. Let's say there was an evil pastor. That doesn't constitute a rejection
of the pastorate. You see what I'm saying? Hypocrisy
in an assembly does not constitute some reason to stay home. He said, He said, forsake not
the assembling of yourselves together. And because some men
abuse that, there's no reason to reject the doctrine altogether. You follow what I'm saying? In
other words, when he said for them to listen to these Pharisees,
he wasn't saying to listen to their doctrine. He's saying they
sat in Moses' seat. These men hold an office that
I ordain through my servant Moses. And when they command you to
bring sacrifices, you bring them. When they command you to come
and do this, you do it. But don't you do after their
works. Don't you follow after their doctrines. And Christ is
by no means giving sanction to these Pharisees. They were hypocrites. And in
next week's message, he has 12 words that describe these hypocrites. But the lesson this morning is
about true godliness and the heart of the hypocrite. Now,
believers are men and women whose lives demonstrate a constant
coming to God, trusting in Christ as their Savior and Lord. They
repent of their sin, their weakness, how weak we are. Any little thing
will distract you from that book or from worship. Any little thing.
Clouds up. Well, who ordered those clouds?
Who sits on the throne? Who's running the show? But boy,
it can cloud up. Well, I maybe better not go tonight. Any little thing will distract
us from the things of God. Just any little thing. Weakness.
Weakness. And we repent of it. You know,
nothing happens. It comes a gentle rain and you
stand there looking out your window wondering why you didn't
go to worship. We repent of it. Our weakness. We repent of our inability. Paul
said the things that I would, I do not. Things I really want
to do, I don't do them. I don't do them. And we repent of our love of
this world. This world holds entirely too
much attraction for the believer. And we repent also of this. We
repent of our unbelief. Lord, we believe. Help thou our
unbelief. And this world and all of its
freewill works religion makes the child of God nauseous. Nauseous. They see plainly the
hypocrisy of it and the ignorance of it, the danger of it. and
the evil power behind it. False religion, like a woman
once caught her eye, and she once seemed attractive to him,
and now he sees her for what she is, a whore riding on the
back of a beast. That's what it is. And it makes
him nauseous. It makes him nauseous. Godliness
is the worship of God. It is the heart tuned to worship
God. It's that inward desire. You
look in the Word of God, and you read the Word of God, and
you see the promises of God, and you know by experience the
work of God in your own heart, and you can't help but worship
God. Knowing Him to worship Him. You can't know God and be flippant
about God. There's no way. No way. His Majesty, the heavens, David
said, declare the glory of God. You stand out here and just look
up and it's amazing. It's infinite. It goes on forever
and it's all ordered by Him. All controlled by His power.
All providence. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. You can't know that and not worship
Him. Godliness is the worship of God. And then secondly, godliness
is knowing God and walking with God with the understanding of
faith. We walk by faith. We walk in
the light as He is the light. That's the only way you can have
fellowship one with another and still have forgiveness of sin. coming to Him through the redemptive
work of Christ. Did you know every Old Testament
worship? We're into this study now, the
tabernacle, and we're going to get into the sacrifices and all
of these things. And if you'll just study those
things and look at those things, every bit of worship in the Old
Testament went through the priest. You couldn't do anything without
coming to the priest. You come to the priest. Well,
what do we do? We come to God through the priest,
our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the priest. Everything else besides this
is just a form of godliness. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
3. I mean Hebrews chapter 11. I'm
sorry. Hebrews chapter 11. And this is a very interesting
man. Later on when you go home, you
might want to turn over to the book of Jude. It's just one chapter
and read through there. And he talks about this man Enoch.
And he warns his generation. And by the inspiration of God
warns us of ungodly men, which they ungodly committed, and ungodly
sins, and ungodly preaching, and ungodly this, and ungodly
that. They claim to have godliness,
but it was a form of godliness. And this man in it. Now listen
to what this says about Enoch. Hebrews 11, verse 5. By faith,
Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was
not found, because God had translated him. For before his translation,
he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith,
it is impossible. Impossible. Sometime you want
to do a study, look that word up. Our Lord said to His disciples,
when that rich young ruler walked away with every potential there
was under heaven, to be a believer. He was successful. He came on
his own. He had money. He had a lot to
offer, a lot to commit to the kingdom of God. And they said,
who then can be saved? You remember what our Lord told
them? With man, it's impossible. Impossible. And that's what he's
saying here. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. And this believing that God is,
is not talking about believing in the mere existence of God.
That's not what he's talking about here. James said, Thou
believest that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils believed
the same thing. Didn't help them out a bit, did
it? So this believing in one God does not constitute faith
because the devils believed that. And Judas believed that. Demas
believed that. The Pharisees believed in one
God and every major religious denomination that I've ever been
familiar with today believes in one God. That's not what he's
talking about here. Faith knows the God in whom it
believes. That's the difference. It's not
believing that there's one God. It's knowing the one God. Enoch
knew God. He knew God. And knowing Him
is eternal life. He tells us in Romans, how shall
we call on Him in whom you have not believed? How are you going
to do that? How are you going to believe in Him of whom you
have not heard? We have to come to know God. We are not born with the knowledge
of God. And you cannot believe or call
upon or worship an unknown God and call it faith. Our Lord told
that Samaritan woman, she said, Jews, you go down there, you
worship in Jerusalem. We worship out in the mountains.
He said, you worship, you know not what. That's what you worship. You don't know God. And God can only be perceived
through His Word and the preaching of the Gospel as it's revealed
to the heart by the Holy Spirit. These Pharisees and scribes and
the High Council of Israel, They told our Lord, they said, we
have one Father, even God. Even God. And it was to these
men that our Lord said, you neither know me nor my Father. Those who know God know Him as
He's manifested in His Son. We know that the Son of God has
come and given to us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true. Our Lord said, no man knoweth
a father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal
Him. Those who know God know Him as
He's manifested Himself in His Son. And then fourthly, those
who know God know they cannot please Him or gain His favor
through their own works. My soul, the bare fact that God
manifested His Son in human flesh and caused him to suffer such
indignation and then die on a cross between two thieves ought to
tell us something about the justice and righteousness of God. And
yet this generation thinks that God just winks at sin. He'll
just overlook it. He'll just overlook it. Those who know God. Know that
they cannot please Him or gain His favor through their own works.
God demands perfection, unbroken spiritual loving obedience. It just takes one sin to ruin
your righteousness. We're guilty of millions and
millions, untold millions of sins. Sins of, we come forth
from the womb speaking lies. We were sinning when we were
there kicking without a diaper on. sinning against God. We go astray as soon as we be
born, speaking lies. And what's he say? Cursed is
everyone who continueth not in all things written in the book
of the law to do this. We know that. The believer knows
that. He knows he can't please God. He can't please God through
his church going. He can't please God through his
praying. He can't please God through his reading. He can't
please God through his commitments. You can't please God. The only
way you can please God is in Christ. That's it. Without faith, it's impossible,
impossible to please God. If we get a hold of that, we
could walk like believers walk. We get a hold of that. We walk
with the mind of Christ. And actually, to offend the law
in one point of the law is to manifest a lack of perfect love,
which taints every idea of anything that I ever called a righteousness.
Because if I fail in love on one point, then that exposes
that imperfection of love and makes me guilty of every point
under the law. The believer knows this. Several
times in the scripture, the Holy Ghost speaks of putting His laws
into their hearts and into their minds. What in the world is He
talking about when He says that? Does He stamp in the hearts of
men and women who believe His Ten Commandments? Is that what
He's talking about? No. He's talking about putting His
laws in their hearts and minds as satisfied and honored in Christ. That's what he's talking about.
That's how they can walk and obey and honor the law of God,
is because they see it satisfied in Christ. In Christ, I have
a perfect obedience. I have a perfect righteousness.
I'm not only unblameable before God, but he says I'm unreprovable. Unreprovable. I'm telling you this and I'm
showing you in the scriptures that it's impossible to walk
with God, serve God, worship God, and please God without faith. And I don't care what it is you're
doing, how needful, how helpful the work, how great the sacrifice,
or how full the commitment. It doesn't make any difference.
I don't care how or who approves of it or how much praise you
receive. It not only is rejected by God, but it's an abomination
in His sight. An abomination. Anything you
do apart from faith is an abomination. Isaiah said, we are all. He just
lumps everybody into one lump, himself included. He said, we
are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. Anything and everything in religion
is a form of godliness. It's just a hollow shell of religion
without a true knowledge of God and faith in Christ. Believers
worship God in spiritual understanding. Spiritual understanding. I'm
a fanatic about the songs that we sing. And you know, in some
churches, they just look at you like you're from another planet.
if you won't sing that ungodly hymn that they sang. Well, why
didn't he sing? Because I don't believe the words
of the hymn. I'm not going to sing it. I used to just bellow it out.
I'll fly away. I'll meet Mama and Glory and
all that foolishness. Believers, whatever works they
do are done in gratitude and love for what Christ has done
for them by His grace. That's what they do. Just out
of Thanksgiving. There's no law. Y'all ain't got
any rules? No, we don't have any rules.
Some churches got rules. Got them right up here. Right
on the wall. Well, they have them in a little
booklet and they make you learn them. And before you join church,
you have to agree to do these things. You have to agree to
tithe and you have to agree to be here so many days a year and
all. And the believer, even his best
gifts, he asked God to make acceptable through the Savior. Huh? Your best gift. Your best prayer
you ever prayed. I mean the very best one you
ever prayed had to be washed in the blood of Christ. Listen to this, Romans chapter
12 verse 1. Paul said, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service." On what basis? On the basis of the mercies of
God. And here's another scripture
that defines godliness. Over in 1 John chapter 1, he
said, if we walk in the light, as he is the light, We have fellowship
one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanseth us. Cleanses what? Our walk together. Our worship together. The blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. I'm telling you, dressing up
in religious robes and gowns to be seen And reverence by men
is not godliness. Living in the Vatican over in
Rome and wearing a priest's miter is not godliness. Praying out
loud in restaurants is not godliness. And sitting in the chief seats
in the synagogue is not godliness. Godliness manifests itself in
humility. Listen to what our Lord said.
He said, let this mind be in you." Now he's talking about
their walk, talking about this work which God had begun in them
in those Philippians. And now he said, let this mind,
he said, if there's any, any vows within you, any vows of
compassion, any evidence of the work of God in you, then let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus our Lord,
who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of what? No reputation. took on him the
form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being
found in fashion as a man, he done what? Humbled himself. My soul coming into the flesh
would have been humility enough, wouldn't it? No. As a man, he
humbled himself and become obedient unto death, even that ignominious
death of the cross. Godliness manifests itself in
humility. And godliness is having the mind
of Christ. Godliness looks on the things
of others. Godliness is first of a broken
heart. A broken heart healed by grace. And a godly man seeks no titles
or rewards. He already has his reward. Christ. Christ is his reward. Huh? I've been shocked. I mean, that
laid me out all by itself, that he might save a worm like me.
And everything else that he's asked me to do or given me to
do has just been, I don't even know how to react to it. It's
just, why? Why would he do this? According
to the good pleasure of his will and to the glory of his grace. And they know that. Believers
know that. What have you gotten, Paul said to those men who were
swelling up in pride. He said, what have you gotten
that you haven't received? You got something God hadn't
given you? Then why did he act like he didn't? Boy, I tell you, we want to throw them
thumbs in them suspenders and just brag on everything, don't
we? Reminds me of old Nebuchadnezzar standing on top of that city
he built, Great Babylon. And you know what God did with
that city? Made it a picture of religion. That's exactly what
He did. In Titus chapter 1 verse 15 it
says, Unto the pure all things are pure. But unto them who are
defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. But even their mind and
conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God,
but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, and
unto every good work, listen to this, reprobate. Dead while
they live. Dead while they live. And actually,
the kingdom of God is the very reverse or opposite of what religious
men and women think that it is. Our Lord tells them here in Matthew
23, 11, He said, He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
Religion don't believe that. I don't believe that. And whosoever
shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble
himself shall be exalted. Humility is contrary to the flesh,
and it's perceived as weakness. But do you know the Bible said
Moses was the most humble of men? He was the most humble of
men. But I'm telling you, he wasn't
a weak man. That man marched up to Pharaoh. We're talking
about a potentate who can lift his rod and point it at you.
They took you out and turned you into dust or ashes, whatever
pleased the king. And he stood toe-to-toe, jaw-to-jaw,
nose-to-nose with the king of Egypt and told him the message
of God. He wasn't a weak man, but he
was humble. He was humble. I'm running out of time, but
let me just give you very quickly here, and I'll quit. I want to
give you four things, four characteristics of false religion. I'll just
give them to you, and you can go through and study them for
yourself. First of all, false religion always seeks to bring
its converts under some kind of form, some form of legal bondage. That's how you know false religion. Christ said when the gospel is
preached, it sets the captives at liberty, didn't he? When he called Lazarus out of
that tomb, he was bound head to toe. What did he tell him?
He said, loose him and let him go. When he called his sheep
from the father, what did he do with them? Did he first go
chain them all up, put collars on them, hang on to them like
you walk your dog? He just put them out. Put them
out. My sheep know my voice. They hear me. They believe on
me. And here's what he said, they
follow me. And those of you who know him,
follow him. You'll follow him. Those Gadarenes tried to chain
the demoniac with no success, but when Christ did a work in
him, he sat there quiet, clothed, and in his right mind. He didn't
need any chains. Don't need any chains. And then
secondly, false religions are always marked by a glaring hypocrisy
of those who seek to impose their legal bondage upon others. Our Lord said, they say and do
not. They say and do not. Christ said this. He said, take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. My yoke's easy and my burden's
light. My burden's light. And it's under
the yoke of Christ that weary sinners find rest for the soul.
And none but a hypocrite could find rest in a law that they
couldn't keep. You have to be a hypocrite to
do that. And then thirdly, all the outward forms, ceremonies,
and works of false religion are done to be seen of men. Why? Why? Why do men put on robes
before they enter into the pulpit? Put on these big old long...
I burn up up here in a short-sleeved shirt. These men got these big
old heavy robes on, dragging the ground. Some of them got
a train behind them, dragging on the ground. And they come
out there in all that pomp and ceremony. enter into the pulpit? Why do they do that? Why do men
love and encourage others to call them father and rabbi and
reverend? Why do they pray in public places? To be seen of men. That's why. To be seen of men. So men will
approve them, and so men will applaud them, and so men will
thank them to be great lovers of God. And then fourthly and
finally, false religion encourages the love of recognition. They
encourage. They say stand up and be counted.
The Lord said study to be quiet. Huh? They said the evidence of
the real work of God is in the multitude. He said narrow is
the way and few there be that walk therein. Huh? They encourage this thing of
recognition. Even when the apostle Paul defended
his office as an apostle, it embarrassed him to think that
others might think that he was simply inflating his own ego.
It embarrassed him to have to defend his office because he
knew what he was. Listen to what he says here in
Ephesians chapter 3. Even when he defended his office,
now listen to this, unto me who am less than the least of all
saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, less than the least. And all true believers know that
whatever they have is the gift of God's sovereign grace, and
they want everybody else to know it.