The scribes, the Pharisees and
the Sadducees, took great offense at our Lord's doctrine. When
he gave out the parable of the vineyard in chapter 20 of Luke's
Gospel, they rightly perceived that he spoke the parable directly
against them, and they were upset. Taking offense at his doctrine,
These wicked religious men, like their successors in every generation
since, tried to catch him in his speech with trick questions. They set a trap for him, hoping
that they could find something he said and twist his words so
as to turn them against him and against his doctrine. All the
while, they pretended to be sincere, honest, holy men. But they were altogether foiled
in their schemes. The master put them to silence. And that's exactly what he always
does with his enemies and those who oppose his gospel in every
age. These fellows came out and asked
the Lord Jesus trick questions about taxes as if that was going
to fool him. And then they The Sadducees sent
somebody out and asked him about the resurrection. They thought
they could trick him with that. What kind of bodies are you going
to have in the resurrection? But the Lord Jesus silenced them
all together. And once he did that, he seized
the opportunity. In other words, he turned evil
to good. even in their attempts to destroy
his doctrine and thereby destroy his authority in the eyes of
his people, he turns the tables on them. And he seizes the opportunity
to give us a very instructive word both with regard to his
person and work, and a word of warning with regard to such religious
pretense as these men demonstrated. Let's read together, beginning
at verse 39 in Luke 20. Then certain of the scribes answering
said, Master, thou hast well said. These fellows, the scribes
They believed in the resurrection, and they thought, well, at least
we got something on the Sadducees. He sure shut those boys up. But
these scribes didn't believe God any more than the Sadducees
did. The scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees all alike opposed
Christ and his doctrine, the gospel of his grace. Verse 40,
And after that they durst not ask him any question at all,
as the end of their catholic. And he said unto them, I have
read this and read this and read this. I hadn't yet got it figured
out, but I think perhaps this is what he did. I do it myself
a lot. I might be looking at you, but
I'm talking to you. He looked at his disciples and
said to these scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees, he said to them,
how say they? How say they? How do these fellows
say that Christ is David's son? All of them did. The scribes
acknowledged that. The Pharisees acknowledged that.
The Sadducees acknowledged that. They all knew that the Messiah
is David's son. He's the son of David. That was
written in the Scriptures. They had that doctrine down good.
I mean, the liberals and the conservatives, they had that
doctrine down good. How say they? How do these fellows say that
Christ is David's son? Verse 42. And David himself saith
in the book of Psalms, The Lord said unto my Lord, Set thou on
my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. David
therefore calleth him Lord. How is he then his son? Pretty
good question. Then in the audience of all the
people he said unto his disciples, Beware of the scribes. which desire to walk in long
robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest
seats in the synagogues, they like to be somebody in church,
and the chief rooms in the feast, which devour widows' houses,
and for a show make long prayers the same shall receive greater
damnation." Now, in this passage of Scripture, our Savior teaches
us plainly that He is both fully God and fully man, the God-man,
our mediator. I want us to see five things
in the verses we've read. Here's the first. Our Lord Jesus
here publicly exposes, publicly exposes, the ignorance of these
religious hypocrites. After he endured their questions,
their tattles, our Lord turned the tables against them and deliberately
exposed their ignorance. He had said, You do err, not
knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. Now he demonstrates,
though they read the Scriptures every Sabbath day. Now remember,
he's specifically talking to the scribes. He's specifically
talking to the mentally elite, the brilliant, well-trained,
disciplined, religious, theological leaders, those fellows who spent
their lives studying Scripture. And now he publicly demonstrates
that they are totally ignorant, both of the Scriptures and of
the power of God. Can you imagine how galling that
must have been? Have you ever, and if you adults
it wouldn't happen, you young people can remember, mom or dad
or somebody else, when you're kindly wanting to show off what
you know, and you get to blowing pretty good and then somebody
just sticks a pin in and lets all the air out and shows you're
totally mistaken. It's embarrassing, it's humiliating,
and if you could get by with it. That's exactly what the Master
does with these religious leaders before a huge crowd. These fellows
came with their brilliance, with their academics, with their arguments,
with their theological background. These fellows who were revered
before all the people. These fellows who loved to go
to church and folks think they're somebody. Who loved to go to
Bible conferences and folks talk about them. They liked the upper
seats and they had it. And the Lord Jesus simply demonstrates
with a short quotation from the Psalms their utter ignorance
of Holy Scripture. He asked them about an expression
that's found in Psalm 110. Turn back there and put your
bookmark there. We'll look at it again in a minute.
Here David speaks of the Messiah, this one whom all acknowledged
must be David's son. And he says that back here in
Psalm 110, David calls him his Lord. Now how can that be? How can this man be David's son
who is yet to come? David's son who now is standing
on the earth hundreds of years later. How can this man be spoken
of back here by David as his Lord? And they scratched their
chins and they said, we dare not say anything about this.
They were so dumbfounded by one of the most commonly quoted scriptures
in their day. Psalm 110 was not one of those
passages written back in the middle of the second verse of
Haggai. Psalm 110 was quoted and sung and chanted all the
time in the synagogues. They knew it by heart. They memorized
it, much like most people today would memorize and recite Psalm
23 whenever they're getting ready to go into surgery. Everybody
knows it. It's superstitious. It's mystical.
It's magical. It's somehow like a rabbit's
foot to them. That's all. But these fellas knew Psalm 110
by memory, but they didn't have a clue what it was talking about.
Look at it. These great religious Men couldn't
see the plainest thing set before them. Psalm 110, a Psalm of David. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Now this is talking about Christ
the Messiah. He says in verse 2, As a result
of the Lord having said to my Lord, said it in my right hand.
The Lord said to the Messiah, said it in my right hand, so
I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. in the beauties of holiness from
the womb of the morning, thou hast the due of thy youth." Now
their ignorance of the psalm, being exposed before all the
people, simply had to go. Professing themselves to be teachers
of others, claiming that they and they alone really had the
key of knowledge. Now I love to see fellas embarrassed
who think they've got a corner on God. These fellas thought
they had a corner on God. We're the ones who understand
this book. You peons can't understand it. They thought they had the
key of knowledge and had everybody convinced they did. But our Lord
shows plainly they're totally ignorant of the scriptures they
claim to teach with absolute authority. Nothing could have
been more God. All right, and here's the second
thing. That's a little entertaining. This is important. The Lord Jesus
here reminds us that the book of God is all about Him. I've said this to you so many
times, but it needs clear, clear, clear understanding. God help
us to get it. This book is all about our Redeemer. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, His person, His accomplishments, His salvation, the greatness
of His glory in the accomplishment of salvation. It's all about
Him. Everything recorded upon the
pages of Holy Scripture. Everything recorded upon the
pages of Holy Scripture. speak of him, everything. And I said that one time in a
message down in Australia, and I was writing somewhere to, somewhere
with a preacher, I've forgotten his name. He was insignificant,
still is. He said, he said, well, I guess
you would say that the tent pegs, we call them stakes, had a deep
spiritual meaning, wouldn't you? I said, well, Those tent pegs
held up the tabernacle, didn't they? He said, yes, what I'd
say they did, they held up the tabernacle. I said, they held
up a tabernacle that spoke of Him. It's all about Him. Everything in the book. Everything. When you read the pages of Scripture,
look for Christ. Ask God the Holy Spirit to show
you the things of Christ. To take the things of Christ
and show them to you. I remind you again, there is
a unique fullness about the Word of God, a unique fullness that
gives clear evidence of divine inspiration. The more we read
this book, the more we study it, the more deeply we dive into
that which is written in this book, the more familiar we are
with it, the bigger it gets. It just seems to get deeper and
broader all the time. I was sitting here this morning,
sitting right there, listening to Lindsay as we got to Matthew
chapter 7, and in verse 6, our Lord said, take not that which
is holy and give it to dogs. Now you'll remember I just wrote
commentary on that last week. I've studied it a few times.
I've read it a time or two the last 37 years. And I walked up,
I turned around and said to Larry and walked up here and said to
Lindsay, as soon as we got there, I don't know how on earth I missed this.
I don't know how I missed it. Throughout the Scriptures, Old
Testament and New, our Lord uses that term, dogs, to refer to
religious false prophets. Throughout the Scriptures, workmongers.
Don't throw these pearls over here to these fellas. All they'll
do is trample under feet. Don't do it. Just open the Scriptures,
and you say, how did I miss that? Because your brain's so little,
this book's so big, that's how you miss it. That's not a mistake.
It just gets bigger. That can't be said of any other
book. I've read a few books in my life. Some I've read a number
of times. Few I have read more than two or three times, but
some I've read two or three times. And you know what? After a while,
they all get mundane. After a while, they all show
weak points. After a while, they all show
something lacking. After a while, Now, I don't need
to read that anymore. I know everything it says. Not
this book. Not this book. The more we read
it, the broader, the deeper, the fuller, the more profound
it becomes. The more we study it, the greater
it seems to be. This book cannot be explained
except for this fact. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Holy men of old, wrote as they
were moved by God the Holy Spirit. Now, remember, not only is this
a book of tremendous depth and freshness, it is a book with
one theme. This book was written by 40 men
over a period of more than 1600 years who lived on two different
continents. from every variety of culture
imaginable. Some were uneducated, some were
fishermen, some were farmers, some were kings. But this book
contains one message all the way through it. You would think
they collaborated. You'd think they'd gotten together
and rehearsed one another's records. But there's no evidence that
any collaborated with another. They simply wrote what God the
Holy Spirit required, demanded, and made them right by divine
inspiration. And they all told one story. A story of redemption. Now would
you like to explain that some way, except by saying God did
it? I defy anybody. Explain it any
other way. This is the book of God. Throughout
the book, The message is Jesus Christ and him crucified. Let
me show you two texts. Turn to Acts chapter 20. Acts
chapter 20. Now turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
2. We'll look back at Acts 20, or 1 Corinthians 2. Paul writes
to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 2 he says, in
verse 2, I determine, I determine, not to know anything among you,
say Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's my message. You read through
the book of Acts, all the way through the book of Acts, I think
37 times the words preached, preaching, preaching are used.
The disciples went everywhere preaching. And you know what
they preached every single time they preached? Every time. Jesus
and the Resurrection. Every time. Well, they just beat
on one drum. It's a good drum. They just tell
the same story. It's a good story. Jesus and
the Resurrection. Now, look back here in Acts chapter
20. Paul says at Corinth, I determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And Paul wasn't like modern preachers. He wasn't like false prophets.
Every now and then I'll have somebody ask me, Do you preach
the same thing everywhere you go? Do you preach like that when
you go to these other churches? Bake on it. Bake on it. If I didn't, I'd be a deceiver. I'd be a crook. I'd be a thief. I'd be a mocker. Well, you can't
preach that over here where these folks, they've not had the background
the folks here at Danville have. You don't need a background to
believe God. This is the Word of God. Well, did Paul preach
one thing at Corinth and another thing at Ephesus? Let's see.
At Corinth he said, now, fellas, I determined to know nothing
among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Acts chapter
20, verse 26. I take you to record this day,
I'm pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to
declare unto you all the counsel of God. And Bobby, he preached
the same thing at Ephesus. He preached at Corinth. Compare
the books. He preached the same thing. He
preached Christ crucified. That's the message of Holy Scripture. Now we see this fact demonstrated
throughout the Scriptures. But it is most distinctly demonstrated
in the book of the Psalms. The Psalms to which our Lord
here refers are full of Christ. You want to read some Psalms
that just simply cannot be explained, except you look at them and say,
that can't possibly be talking about anybody but Christ. Now,
this is true with regard to all the Psalms, but here are some
that you can't mistake them. You just can't mistake them.
Psalm 1, there is one blessed man who's never sat in the seat
of scorners. Just one. And it's you. Just one. There is one man who
is king from whom the Lord God says, ask of me and I'll make
the heathen your inheritance. Psalm 2. Psalm 22. There's just one man of whom
it can be said, I was made to hope on you from my mother's
belly. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Psalm 23. There is just one man
of whom we can say, the Lord is my shepherd. There is just
one man. who can be described in Psalm
24 as that man who's never lifted up his heart to vanity, who has
clean hands and a pure heart, before whom the Lord says, the
King of glory shall come in. Just one. Only one man fits the man described
in Psalm 40. Only one man fits the character
of the one described in Psalm 69. The Psalms speak of Christ. Oh, but Brother Dot, Surely,
surely you don't mean for us to fail to understand that the
Psalms talk about the men who wrote them. They do. They do. These men who wrote as they were
moved by the Spirit of God wrote of their own experiences as men,
their own feelings, from the emotions of their own hearts.
They wrote their own praises. They wrote their own complaints.
They wrote their own praises to God and their own prayers
before God. They expressed themselves personally. And yet, as they did, they wrote
about the experiences of another, and the emotions of another,
and the complaints of another. And the cries of another. And the prayers of another. And the praises of another. And that other one is our great
substitute, the God-man, our Redeemer, and our King. They
wrote about the Savior. The Psalms are Psalms of Christ. How few understand that. There
are congregations I have been in where they sing a psalm every
week, one every week. I've been in some churches where
they sing nothing but psalms. I haven't read any of them, didn't
think it was worth my time. There are folks who write books
and banter back and forth, should we sing strictly psalms or sing
some psalms or sing no psalms. But they argue about it. But
nobody much seems to understand the Psalms they quote and read
and sing speak of Him. They speak of our Lord's coming,
speak of both His first advent and His second advent, His coming
in humiliation to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,
and His coming in glory without sin to gather His old unto everlasting
glory in heaven. They speak of our Lord's suffering
and His sorrows. They speak of Him bearing our
sin in His body on the tree. They speak of Him as He cries
out to God under the weight of our sin. They speak of His triumph,
His ascension, His glory. The Psalms speak of Him. They testify of Him. They speak
of His kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory yet to come.
Now I've said all that because I want you to understand something. Read this book. Read it. Study this book. Study it in
every light God will give you. Use every means at your disposal
to understand this book. But understand this. We have
read this book With no profit to our souls, if we read a lie
and didn't understand, this speaks of Christ. It speaks of Him. Oh, what a book this is. Pick up your Bible, Bobby. Turn
it over and look at the spine. Tell me what's written on there. On the back side, right here.
What's it say? Holy Bible. That's what it is. The sanctified
book. It's the book of God. Read it
with reverence. Looking for Christ. Speaking
to you of Christ. And ask God, the Holy Spirit,
whose book it is, to show you Christ on its pages. Now, here's
the third thing. Turn to Luke chapter 20 again. The Lord Jesus here declares
His eternal enthronement and dominion as the God-man, our
Mediator. Verse 42, And David himself saith
in the book of Psalms, The Lord said unto my Lord, Set thou on
my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Is that
exactly what David said? Did he actually say that the
Lord Jesus was already enthroned as our Mediator? That's what
he said. The Lord said, not the Lord shall
say, the Lord said to my Lord, said on my right hand, I'll make
your enemies eat for stew. But Christ's enthronement as
our Mediator, His enthronement as our King and our Priest, is
the reward of his accomplished redemption. Is that not what
the book teaches? When our Lord Jesus came in John
17, as he was finishing his work on this earth, he said, Father,
I've glorified thee on the earth, now glorify me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
He says, now thou hast given to him power over all flesh. that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. Philippians 2, wherefore,
because of him who thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, making himself of no reputation, taking on himself our nature,
and becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,
wherefore, because of this, God also hath highly exalted him. His enthronement, Merle, is the
reward of redemption accomplished. But David said, back here in
Psalm 110, the Lord said unto my Lord, set thou on my right
hand. How can that be? How could he
have been enthroned already in that day? Turn back to Psalm
110. I'll tell you how, ought to be as plain as the nose on
your face. The work was done. The work was done. The work was
done. We have been conditioned to read
the Scriptures whenever we read something in the past tense that
we know came to pass in time, in the future, to say, well,
that was prophetic. Well, sort of. But you know what
I'm beginning to think? I'm pretty confident when God
meant past tense, He meant past tense. When He meant to say future
tense, He meant to say future tense. I think that's the way
the book was written. Now be careful as you read this
110th Psalm, and notice that which is spoken of as having
already been accomplished, and that which is the result which
shall yet be accomplished. Let's look at it. Psalm 110,
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until
I make thine enemies thy footstool." Does that look like past tense?
I believe it is. All right, now here's the prophecy.
The Lord shall. Because the work is finished,
and the God-man mediator, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, sits on the throne. Then the Lord shall send out
the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst
of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Verse four. The Lord has, well
let's go on, let's not forget that. He says, thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness,
from the womb of the morning. Now watch this. thou hast the
due of thy youth." The everlasting, eternal, unchangeable, never
aging, ever, ever living God, our Savior. He says in verse
4, the Lord hath sworn, past tense. It refers to what it spoke
of in verse 1. The Lord hath sworn, when it
said, sit down right here. Sit down here on my throne. And
I'm going to make all your enemies your footstool. The Lord hath
sworn and will never change his mind, will not repent. Thou art
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Past tense. Now
here's the result. The Lord at thy right hand shall
strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge
among the heathen. He shall fill the places with
the dead bodies. He shall wound the heads over
many countries. He shall drink of the brook by
the way, therefore shall he lift up his head." Turn to Isaiah
6. Isaiah 6. What I'm saying is this. I've
been telling you this for 25 years. The works were finished
from the foundation of the world. The Lord God looked on His Son,
our surety, as our Redeemer, the Lamb slain, redemption accomplished,
justification finished, righteousness done, salvation finished, because
He looked on Him as the Lamb slain and exalted before the
world began. Our Lord Jesus, while He walked
on this earth in humiliation, John chapter 3, verse 35, He
said, The Father loveth the Son. And hath given all things to
the Son. He put everything in His hands.
Put everything under when He accepted him and accepted us
in Him before the world began. And this is what Isaiah saw.
Isaiah 6. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and His train filled the temple. Lindsay, he didn't see
the triune God sitting there. God's a spirit. You don't see God who's a spirit.
He's incomprehensible. I was talking to Will the other
day, taught him a little something, a little good theology. He said
to me, right down the road, he said, God's big. I said, He sure
is, buddy. He said, How big's God? I said,
God is infinite and incomprehensible. And he got those two words down
and finally got them down where he can remember them and then
he said. What's incomprehensible, mate? I said, well, I'm glad
you asked. That means God's too big for
us to figure him out. That means God's too big for
us to measure him. You don't see him sitting on
the throne unless you see him sitting there as a lamb slain
from the foundation of the world in a body in whom resides all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You mean the Lord had a body
back yonder? Nope! But that's the way he appeared
on the throne to Isaiah, as the Lamb whose work was finished.
He said, I saw the Lord. Well, how do you know that's
who he saw? Because in John chapter 12, our Lord said, Isaiah saw
me! That's how he was pardoned of
all his sin. The Lord said unto my Lord, Set
thou on my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.
And now He says, reign forever. The Lord God put into the hands
of Christ, our mediator, the reigns of total monarchy, of
universal dominion, privately before the world began. And he made the universe. Who
did? Our Mediator. Without Him was
not anything made that was made. Is that what the book says? Without
Him, the Mediator, the Word, publicly. Once our Lord Jesus
came into this world in human flesh and publicly redeemed us
by the sacrifice of Himself, He was raised up from the dead
and He ascended up to the Father and the Lord God publicly for
everybody to see. put the reins in his hands. And
I told you, he's the king. He's the king. You're going to
bow to him. And before he is done with all
things in time, everybody is going to bow. Look in Isaiah
45. Isaiah 45. He must reign till
he hath put all his enemies under his feet. Isaiah 45, verse 22. Look unto Me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else."
Now, if you want to see who He is, read the first 21 verses.
He says, I am God, beside Me there is none else. There's no
other God except Me. Now, He says in verse 23, I have
sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness,
and shall not return. In other words, what I said I'm
going to do. I'm not going to change My mind, and you're not
going to stop Me. That unto Me. Every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall swear. Everybody's going to bow down
to Christ. Everybody. We sing, everybody
ought to know who Jesus is. Soon you're going to know. Everybody's
going to know and confess. Verse 24, one of two ways. Surely
shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength.
Even to him shall men come. and all that are incensed against
him shall be ashamed." To Him, the Lord, sitting on
the throne, in the fullness of the regalia of His perfect accomplishments,
everybody is going to bow. And all who are incensed against
Him shall be ashamed, either as they bow before Him seeking
his mercy, or as they bow before him, trembling at his fury. But all shall bow. He says, In
the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall
glory. All right, back in our text,
Luke 20, verse 44. Here our Savior speaks of himself,
and he asks these brilliant religious idiots, David therefore call
of him, Lord, how is he then his son? And they were dumbfounded. That couldn't answer. Oh, that's
a deep, deep question. Nobody can really give you an
answer to that. Nobody can really explain that. child taught of God can explain
it. Any child. What do you mean?
This is the way it's explained. Now this is deep. This is so
deep, boy, you're going to have to learn maybe what it is to
be thirsty before you can get it. You're going to have to learn
maybe what it is to be hungry before you can get it. You're
going to have to learn maybe what it is to need Him, for you
can get it. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. God became a man. He who is David's Lord, the root
of David, that one from whom David sprang, is David's son,
the offspring of David. He is the son of David after
the flesh, but he is manifestly the son of God. And without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
in that man. One of these days I'm going to
be so astonished and overawed by the reality of this, that
I'll quit wondering how it can be and just rejoice in it. But
for now, I can't help wondering how it can be. I just don't know.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the man, assumed our flesh, lived in righteousness
as our mediator, and died as our substitute. And this man
now sits on the throne of glory to save us. And he's God Almighty. And in that man, in his body. In his body. A man. I suspect a man, not anywhere
near as big as I am, are most of you men. This is a man of
Jewish stock. This man. In that man. dwelleth
perpetually, forever, all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."
Everything that God is, He is. And everything that God is, is
in Him. That man is God. and incomprehensible. And that
makes His obedience, His righteousness, and His blood infinite and incomprehensible,
infinitely incomprehensibly effectual for the saving of our souls.
Oh, thank God for the Lord, priest after the order of Melchizedek,
who has accomplished redemption for us, and now sits on the throne. I look and behold a lamb rising
up out of the midst of the throne. And he has one foot on the earth
and one foot on the sea and he has the book of God in his hand
and he rules the universe to perform that which God has ordained. The Lord said unto my Lord, set
thou on my right hand. One more thing. Our Lord warns us. Warns us. With a timeless warning. Verses
45, 46 and 47. Then in the audience of all the
people. He still got these scribes and
Pharisees and Sadducees standing in the crowd. He still got them. Now, be politically
correct. You don't want to offend anybody. We don't want to be too bigoted
or too straight-laced. He said to his disciples, beware
of the scribes. And then he describes who he's
talking about. He's not just talking about those specific
men. He's talking about self-righteous
religious pretenders of every rank and in every age. Here's
what I'm talking about. They desire to walk in long robes. They want to dress so everybody
will look at them and say, boy, he's holy. Dress in a holy fashion. You ever heard a thing like that?
I have. Yeah. I want you to dress in
a holy fashion. When I was in school in Springfield,
Missouri, 1968, I liked good-looking shoes. I liked them to shine.
And back in those days, about everybody was wearing shoes with
buckles on them. Remember those? Not everybody
was wearing shoes with buckles on them. Do you know we weren't
allowed to wear those? Because that wasn't holy fashion.
That didn't look like Christians. That look like everybody else.
Beware of folks who like to dress in such a way as to call attention
to themselves for their piety. Especially if they happen to
have collars on and funny looking hats. If you need an explanation,
I'll give it to you. Beware of those fellows who love
greetings in the markets. Hello, Dr. Don. Hello, Reverend
Bob. Hello, Holy Father. Beware. Those of us who love it. I'd like for you to call me Doctor.
Call me Reverend. Call me something that distinguishes
you from you. Why don't you just call me Brother
Don and I'll call you Brother Bob. That'd be all right. Or
just call me Don and I'll call you Bob. That'd be all right.
Beware. of men who like to be distinguished
from you, as though they're more holy than you. Beware of those
fellows who love greetings in the markets and the highest seats
in the synagogues. I don't want just to have a bachelor's
degree, I want a master's degree. Well, I've got myself a doctor's
degree. A fellow said, Reverend Twiddle,
got him a D.D. Dr. Degree, now they call him
Reverend Twiddle D.D. Beware of them. These fellas
devour widows' houses before a show, make their own prayers.
In other words, the Lord Jesus says, anytime anybody pretends to be
holy, and pious, and sanctified, and righteous, and more holy
than you, theirs is the deepest, darkest hole in hell. Beware of pretense. The Lord
said, beware of going to hell with these fellows. Beware. Whatever you are, whatever I
am, God, make us honest. Honest before God, honest with
ourselves, and honest with one another. Beware. Amen.