That Which is Highly Esteemed

Q: What does the Bible say about serving two masters?

The Bible teaches that you cannot serve both God and money, as found in Luke 16:13. In Luke 16:13, our Lord explicitly states, 'No servant can serve two masters.' This is a profound teaching that highlights the impossibility of divided loyalties. Individuals are faced with a choice: to love one master while despising the other. In this context, the 'two masters' represent God and Mammon, which encompasses not just money, but personal gain and earthly desires. Serving God requires a heart fully devoted to Him, prioritizing His glory and will above all else. Therefore, engaging half-heartedly in spiritual matters only leads to hypocrisy, as one cannot truly serve God while pursuing self-interest.

Q: How do we know God requires our hearts in worship?

The Bible emphasizes that God desires our hearts above all else, as seen in Proverbs 23:26. Throughout scripture, it's clear that God requires our hearts in worship and service. Proverbs 23:26 states, 'My son, give me thine heart.' God seeks a sincere, undivided heart committed entirely to Him. Without this heart commitment, all external acts of worship and sacrifice become meaningless (Psalm 51:17). True faith is characterized by a heart surrendered to Christ, where obedience flows from love rather than obligation. The rich young ruler, for instance, exemplifies how the love for wealth can hinder one's relationship with God, showing that only a heart transformed by God's grace can truly belong to Him.

Q: Why is wholeheartedly following Christ important?

Wholehearted discipleship is vital because it leads to true peace and fulfillment in Christ. Wholeheartedly following Christ is essential as it reflects genuine devotion and commitment to His will. In Luke 14:33, our Lord declares, 'Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.' This call to complete surrender emphasizes that only through total dedication can believers experience authentic peace and satisfaction. Half-heartedness breeds doubt and discontent, while full commitment opens the door to God's blessings. True discipleship reflects a heart willing to bear its cross, as noted in Mark 8:34, where the call to take up one’s cross signifies the sacrifices necessary to follow Christ faithfully.

Q: Why does God scoff at self-righteousness?

God scoffs at self-righteousness because it reveals a heart far from Him, as demonstrated in Luke 16:15. In Luke 16:15, our Lord directly addresses the Pharisees, stating, 'Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts.' This highlights the contrast between man’s often superficial judgments and God’s piercing insight into the true condition of the heart. Self-righteousness masks genuine need for grace, leading to a façade of piety that God finds detestable. Such hypocrisy is abominable to God, as it is rooted in pride and a misunderstanding of His holiness. True righteousness, however, is born from humility and faith in Christ alone, not from works intended to impress others.

Q: What is the significance of the law being fulfilled in Christ?

The law's fulfillment in Christ signifies the establishment of a new covenant and the basis for our righteousness. In Luke 16:16-17, our Lord proclaims that 'the law and the prophets were until John,' marking the transition from the old covenant to the new covenant fulfilled in Him. Christ’s perfect obedience and sacrifice satisfy the requirements of the law, making it clear that righteousness before God is not attained through our efforts but through faith in His Son. This fulfillment opens the way for believers, allowing them to enter the Kingdom of God, not through law-keeping but through grace. As noted in 2 Corinthians 5:21, 'For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,' emphasizing that our standing before God is secure only in Christ, our perfect substitute.

16th chapter, our Lord gave a
parable, a parable that many have difficulty understanding,
the parable of the unjust steward, a man who took that which his
master had trusted to his hands and used it for nothing but his
personal interest, to gratify his lust, to satisfy himself. And then in verses 9 through
13, our Lord applied that parable real pointedly, and the Pharisees
who heard him understood his doctrine. They had no difficulty
understanding that the parable was talking about them. Now,
in verse 13, our Lord gives this word of instruction, applying
the parable in a most pointed manner, to those Pharisees who
were listening in as he talked to his disciples. No servant
can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love
the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Now the word Mammon clearly refers
to money, material gain, such as that. But our Lord is using
the word in a far more significant sense than that. The word mammon
means personal gain by things you do on this earth, whatever
it is, whatever it is. Now here's the first point of
my message. The lesson our Lord here gives
us is unmistakable. God requires our hearts. God requires our hearts. If we would worship and serve
our God, we must worship him and serve him with a single,
sincere, honest, undivided, whole heart. The Lord looketh on the
heart. The Lord looketh on the heart.
Without the heart, everything else is meaningless. Everything
else. A man wants from his wife her
heart. A woman wants from her husband
his heart. Without it, everything else is
meaningless. Everything else is useless. And God requires
our hearts. in spiritual matters, in the
worship of God, in the service of God, everything else pales
into insignificance if the heart is lacking. My son, our God says,
give me thine heart. Keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life. When David came to the
Lord, Acknowledging and confessing his sin in Psalm 51, he said,
the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. The one thing God requires of
all who come to him, believing on the Son of God, the one thing
essential to faith in Jesus Christ is the heart. was the one thing
that rich young ruler would not give to the master. The heart
is the one thing the Pharisees would not give to the Lord God
Almighty. The heart is the one thing no
man will give to Christ except God break his heart and create
in him a clean and upright heart. Faith in Christ is neither more
nor less than the surrender of my heart to him, trusting him. Faith is the surrender of my
heart to him, trusting him. Listen to what he says. If any
man come to me, and hate not his father, his mother, his wife,
his children, his brothers, his sisters, yea, and his own life
also. He cannot be a good, sincere
Christian. He cannot be my disciple. You can't follow Christ if you
hold back anything to yourself. Oh, preacher, hear what you say.
You can't follow Christ if you hold back anything to yourself. And whosoever doth not bear his
cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." What cross? Religious people, in a show of
piety, use lots of religious jargon. Go through some difficulty,
have some heartache, oh, I have to bear my cross. Your cross, David, is exactly
what it was to Jesus Christ, our Lord. What did he sacrifice
on that cross? Everything. Everything. And that's exactly what it means.
He says in the next words, in Luke 14.33, so likewise, whosoever
he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be
my disciple. Our Lord called the people to
himself and with his disciples also in Mark 8, and said to them,
Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me. And he gives exactly the same
meaning to those words I've just given you. For whosoever will
save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. Now this
is a plain, simple, unmistakable fact. No servant can serve two
masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or
else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve God and men. We are not the servants of God. We do not trust the Lord Jesus
Christ if we do not give up ourselves so entirely to him and his service
as to make memory, that is to make everything of our worldly
gain serviceable to him and his glory, his will, and his kingdom. It's useless, a useless show
of hypocrisy, and that's all it is. It's not sincerity, it's
hypocrisy. It is a useless show of hypocrisy
to claim that we are worshipers and servants of God, when in
reality we just tip our hats toward God and show a little
respect to God, but we serve ourselves. God in heaven cannot
and will not be served with a divided heart. That fact is so obviously
revealed in the New Testament that dispute with regard to this
would seem to be absolutely unquestionable. Multitudes there are in this
world who try to do the thing our Master declares is impossible.
They try to be friends with the world and friends of God. Do I speak to you? Do I speak
to myself? It can't be done. It can't be
done. You cannot serve God and yourself. You cannot serve God and yourself. I hear people and read things
people say, preachers and others, thinking about what's to be done,
making decisions about serving God. Well, I've got to consider
this and I've got to consider that. Some of you sitting here will
recall when you first spoke to me about coming here as your
pastor. sitting at our table where the Bob started to say
what church here could and couldn't do. I said that's absolutely
without consideration, don't want to hear it. Got nothing
to do with this. Got nothing to do with where
I go, what I do. If it does, I'm not God's servant. That's all. That's all. Now, I know what I just said.
Brother Lance and Robin Heller taking off back to New Guinea,
taking their children down there, they're not but one of two things
that caused a man to put his family through what that man's
put his family through. And they wouldn't put it that way. I know
that. Not but two things. Either utter self-righteousness
or utter devotion to God Almighty. That's all. That's all. You cannot serve God and yourselves. Wholehearted, decisive faith
is what our God requires, and he deserves that and more. Wholehearted,
decisive faith is that which is the key to contentment and
peace in this world. Our Lord said, I have meat to
eat you know not of. And he was talking about doing
the will of God. How can you live like this? How can you go
through this? How can you endure these things?
How can you be satisfied out here with nothing? Oh, I've got
meat to eat that satisfies me deep down inside. It doesn't
matter whether anything else is satisfied or not. Wholehearted,
decisive faith, commitment to Christ is the secret to peace
while we live in this world. Half-heartedness always brings
up an evil report. Always does. You fellas go down
and spy out the land. God promised us the land. God
told us he'd give the land. God told me to send you in there
and spy out the land, and you come back and tell us about it.
And the whole group of good, fine, religious folks who went
to church every Saturday and made sacrifices and kept the
Sabbath day and all those things, they came back and said, we can't
take that land. Oh, it's a good land. Oh, it's a good land, but
it's full of giants. And we can't take it. We can't
have it. Wholehearted faith in Christ
speaks like Joshua and Caleb and says the Lord will bring
us into this land. He said it and he'll do it. And
that kind of faith follows the Lord fully. Now look at verse 14. When the
scribes heard these words of our Lord's parable of the unjust
steward, And the conclusion he gave in verse 13, they understood
he was talking about them. And they derided him. And here's
the second thing I want you to see. Lost religious hypocrites,
be they ever so devoted in their religion. Be they ever so highly
esteemed and highly admired by men. Lost religious hypocrites. Always turn up their noses at
what I just told you. You can't serve God and yourself. That's not practical. That's
why you can't expect anybody to be that devoted. You'd have
folks be so heavenly minded, they're no earthly good. That's
not practical. Look at verse 14. The Pharisees also who were
covetous, the word is lovers of money. heard all these things,
and they derided him. They rolled back their eyes and
turned up their noses and made faces and laughed out loud. What
fool believes that? Why, that's ridiculous! You can't expect such things
as that from men. These covetous lovers of the
world laughed and scoffed at our Lord's doctrine. These men
professed to be. And everyone highly regarded
them as being lovers of God. These were the religious leaders.
These were the folks who by what they did by their dress, by their
manner of speech, by their actions in public, these were the fellows
who had separated themselves from everyone else and the whole
world looked at them and said, now those men, they walk with
God. They speak for God. They are
God's men. And our Lord tells us here that
they turned up their noses at him and their passion their passionate
love for the world revealed them as being the enemies of God. G. Campbell Morgan put it this
way, these men were filled with scorn for this poor Galilean
peasant who talked like this about money. To them the teachings
of Jesus Christ, those teachings he had been given were so preposterous
that they could not restrain from mockery and laughter. Nobody believes that. Nobody
teaches such things as that. Nobody thinks that's right. There are multitudes in pulpits
and churches all over this world who are of exactly the same opinion.
Most religious people are. They're religious. But they tell
us that such things as our Lord here emphatically declares just
aren't practical. I think the next time I hear
somebody talk about practical and put it with anything connected
with this book and preaching, I think I'll choke them. Practical. That's a wonderful way to sound
pious while you blaspheme God. Practical doctrine. Practical
godliness. Practical religion. That's just
not practical. So I'll talk about practical
things and compromise truth. That man or woman who loves the
world, no matter how religious he or she is, that man or woman
who loves the world betrays his heart. Turn to 1 John 2, let's see. 1 John 2. Verse 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. Now, look at verse 15 in Luke
16. Our Lord gave a rather biting
reply to these Pharisees' sneers. He had already stung their consciences.
They knew he'd been talking about them. And in verse 15, We read,
he said to them. Now remember the parable, he
was talking to his disciples. He was instructing them about
the Pharisees. But the Pharisees were listening in, and they just
butted into the conversation. They butted in. They sneered
at him, laughed at him. That can't be so. But our Lord
answers their sneer. Verse 15. He said unto them,
Ye are they which justify yourselves. Now watch this. Justify yourselves
before men. Men who try to justify themselves
with God will always try to justify themselves before men. Men who
are justified freely by God's grace in Christ don't have any
need to justify themselves before men. Paul said in 1 Corinthians,
he said, I don't pay attention to your judgment. Shoot, I don't
care what you think. There's one that judges me, and
I'll wait till that day. Ye are they which justify yourselves
before men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly
esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Now here's
the third thing. God in heaven sneers and scoffs
at self-righteous religionists. God in heaven sneers and scoffs
at men who sneer and scoff at him. hiding behind the mask of
religious devotion. These Pharisees passed themselves
off as being great lovers of God and His law. Now, this is
the point. This is the point. I told Shelby
going home, started saying late last night, actually it was early
this morning. We were walking across the parking lot and I said, I
have quoted and referred to Luke 16, 15. For better than 30 years, and
I've never seen it before in this context, I had a great day,
a great day and a sobering day. These men were hiding behind
the mask of religious devotion. They passed themselves off as
being great lovers of God and his law, that their religion
was just a mask, just a mask, that's all, just a mask by which
they hid what they really were. There's a mask, just like you
put on if you're going in to rob a bank, just like you put
on if you're going in to that pagan Mardi Gras celebration.
You don't want anybody to see who you really are, so you hide
yourself. But the religion, our Lord simply strips bare publicly. He reached up and took the mask
off. My buddy fella just flat don't
like that. He just flat don't like that. In essence, our Lord is saying
here, you're masters at making yourselves look good in front
of men. But God knows your heart. He knows what's behind the mask.
And I'm God. He knows what you hide from everybody
else. And that which you show to men,
which men stand back and say, boy, now there's something. There's
somebody. Look at that man. That's monumental. That's marvelous. That's wonderful. God says it's monstrous. It's
monstrous. Everything that is highly esteemed
among men. Everything. No exceptions. Everything that's
highly esteemed among man is an abomination to God. Come back
to Psalm 49. I want to show you something
here. Very pertinent passage. Hold
your hands here in Luke 6. Psalm 49. Psalmist has been talking about
enemies. It says in verse 16, Be not thou
afraid when one, one of your enemies, one who hates you and
hates God, is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased.
Don't pay attention to that. Don't pay attention to that.
For when he dies, he shall carry nothing away. His glory is not
going to hell with him. His glory shall not descend after
him, though while he lived he blessed his soul. Now watch this.
And men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself. When you make yourself stand
out, boy, when you get the biggest house on the hill, when you get
the degree nobody else got, when you achieve the notoriety nobody
else achieved, men will praise you. This is exactly what our
Lord is talking about back in Luke 16. And he gives two very
sobering lessons. Number one, God knoweth your
hearts. How often I've heard those words.
They start to excuse or defend themselves in ungodliness. Well,
the Lord knows my heart. And you know how I respond to
that, Bobby? He dead sure does. And I don't. Now live with it. He knows your heart. He knows
the thoughts and motives of your heart. He looks on the heart. Here's the second lesson. And
that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in
the sight of God. That which is high in the estimation
of men, that which men look on and approve, God counts to be
abominable. That is to say, those who attempt
to justify themselves by their works. ever making a show of
religion and godliness before men, are a stench in the nostrils
of God, who knows their hearts. They are a stench in His nostrils,
everything about them, every prayer they utter, every sacrifice
they make, all their show of zeal and devotion. all their
sacrifices, all their deeds, a stench in the nostrils of God.
He looks upon it as a horrible thing. Well, what was our Lord
referring to? What was he talking about? Can
we really put our fingers on it and know exactly what it was
he was talking about? Let's listen to his words and
see. Turn back to Matthew 6. And remember, he's talking to
these Pharisees. These Pharisees who turned up
their noses at his call for heart obedience. These Pharisees who
turned up their noses at his call for heart faith. These Pharisees
who scoffed and laughed at him and said, Oh, nobody believes
that. Our Lord says that which you
use to elevate yourselves and justify yourselves in the sight
of men is an abomination to God. All of your religion. Now let's see if this is what
he meant. Matthew 6, verse 1. Take heed that you do not your
own before men to be seen of men. Verse 2, latter part of
it. As the hypocrites do in the synagogues
and in the streets, that they may have the glory of men. I
told you this before, I hope it will sink home. All religion
puts you on the exercise of showing other people how devoted and
godly you are. Our Lord tells us never to do
so. Never. I want to show my religion. I listened to some fellow a while
back. He's talking about that text
where Paul says, for me to live is Christ. And he said, now,
I want to take this in another way. He should have taken it
the way Paul meant it. He said, I want to talk to you about living out
Jesus. And it was nothing on this earth
but religious works up one side, down the other. And so I dealt
with what Paul said. But no, no, no. Don't try. Oh, I want folks to see Jesus
in me. They didn't see Jesus in Jesus. They didn't see Him
in you. You can't show godliness. Our Lord told us to love folks.
Forgive them, be gracious and kind. By that we let our light
shine, not by our religious acts. But religious folks, oh, brother,
you need some money? Come here, I'll give you some
money. Hey, y'all, this poor fella needs a little money. Here,
take a dime and go buy some coffee. Oh, look what I've done. Or take
a million dollars and go buy a cup of coffee. Here, look what
I've got. It'll make you feel good to do
it. To be seen in men. Look in chapter 6, verse 5, Matthew.
When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are.
How do hypocrites pray? They love to pray standing in
the synagogues and in the corners of the streets. that they may
be seen of men. Now things are just the reverse
these days. Most people commonly stand to lead a congregation
in prayer, but every now and then you'll find some folks who
just have to kind of sit, or kneel down, or act pious, or
some way or another take great big red banners and say, Look
at me! I'm more humble than anybody
when I pray! to be seen of men. That's all. Verse 60, when you fast, be not like the hypocrites. You
mean hypocrites fast? They sure do. I have a sad countenance. I've been fasting for a month.
Oh, I'm so burdened to have been fasting. I've been fasting for
a month now. They disfigure their faces, that
they may appear unto men to fast. Matthew 23. Our Lord is addressing his disciples
before he starts his scathing condemnation of the Pharisees.
He says to his disciples, Do ye not after their works? Verse
5. All their works they do, every
cutting, picking thing they do, they do to be seen of men. They
do to be seen of men. Every day. When we were in college,
Shelby attended the same Bible college I did. She made better
grades when she attended the same Bible college. Can you think
of anything they ever put in the rules, told us to do, that
wasn't intended to be seen of men? Everything they do. Everything they do. From the
straight evangelism, to going to the rest homes, to putting
up the talk boards for the number of folks you get to make a profession
of faith. Everything! Just to be seen of
men. Just to be seen of men. Verse
15. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you
encompass land and sea to make one postulate. to be seen of
men. Verse 23, you pay tithe of mint
and annas, and come and have omitted the weightier matters
of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith. Verse 25, you may
clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but within you're
full of extortion and excess. Verse 27, woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, You're like in the Rite of Sepulchre,
you're like a bunch of graves. All whited up and pretty every
Labor Day. Flowers all around them. But
inside you're full of deadness and rottenness. Verse 29. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets
and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous. You say, we were
their servants. Oh, we do like they do. We believe what they
believe. We preach what they preach. We have this man to our
leader and that man to our leader. But God's prophets stand in front
of you despised. You liars. you liars, God's opinion
you see of man's goodness and his own opinion of his goodness
aren't quite the same. Your opinion of your righteous
works and God's opinion of your righteous works aren't quite
the same. Read the first chapter of Isaiah. He calls the religion
of men who kept outward ordinances in his name, outward ordinances
required by his law, outward ordinances of sacrifices in holy
days and Sabbath days and new moons, and even their prayers,
he calls it all the work of sodomites. He said, you come to me and worship
me on an altar of bricks. That is, you worship me on an
altar of your own works, and it's a stench in my nostrils. I won't have it. I'm weary of
it. I'm weary of it. Look at Isaiah
65, verse 2. Here's what God has to say about
it. I spread out my hands all the day to rebellious people,
which walked in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts. That's what the religion of man
is. It's a religion of their own thoughts. Well, I think.
This is how I think it ought to be. This is what I think.
Who gives a flip what you think? It doesn't matter. Not when it
comes to things of God. I want to debate this issue.
Debate. Debate what God said. That's kind of silly, isn't it? They walk after their own thoughts.
Verse 3. People that provoke me to anger
continually to my face. that sacrifice in gardens, and
burneth incense upon altars of bricks." Now again, back in Exodus
20, God said, don't you come to me that way. An altar of bricks
is an altar you've made by your own works. "...which remain among
the graves, and large in the monuments, which eat swine's
flesh, and the broth of abominable things in their vessels, which
say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than
thou." Look here. I have made myself to be highly
esteemed, and everybody thinks well of me. Look at you. You're nothing. What have you
done, these publicans and sinners? Thank God, Lord, I thank you. I thank you that I'm not as this
publican. Read on. These, every one of
them, no exceptions, are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth
all the day. Now, our Lord's doctrine back
here in Luke 16 is just this. God loves what men despise. Mercy. Grace. Loving kindness. and faith. You know what? I may not remember something, but
I think I'm accurate in saying this. If somebody recalls something
otherwise, remind me. Rex, in 37 years preaching, right
near 37 years, I've never had anyone in my life to ask me,
How can I be gracious? What can I do to show kindness? Pastor, help me. I want to be
good to this man. I've never had anyone in my life
to ask that. And I guarantee you, I go back
there and pull out a stack of letters that high asking me about
how to get folks out of church. How do you get rid of folks?
What kind of rules do you have? What should a fellow do? What
shouldn't he do? What God loves, men despise. And what God despises,
men love. Men love a form, a show. Men love ceremony. Men love a parade. Men love a display. Men love
what they can see and applaud. And men love to be praised by
men. Now, look at verses 16, 17, and
18. In these three verses, our Lord
exposes the legalist contempt for God's holy law. And this
is the last lesson in the passage. All who claim to live by the law would destroy
the law altogether. Now you can write it down and
you can put it anywhere you want to and say Fortner said it, I'll
take the blame. All who claim to live by the law would destroy
the law if they could. But the Lindsay pointed it out
so accurately this morning in his study in Galatians 3. He
said any man This is close. I don't have the exact quote.
Any man who says he obeys God's law brings the law way down here
to his level. That's destroying the law. And
that's exactly what these Pharisees did. All who want you to believe that
they are holy, that they live by God's law and make themselves
holy by their obedience to God's law and separate themselves from
others by their obedience to God's law, despise it. And they
endeavor to destroy it, lowering it to their level. You see, legalists
love to show their obedience, but they really hate it all the
while. If I had just $5 for every time somebody said this to me,
I'd be a fairly wealthy fellow. I'd be preaching on freedom of
God's saints and the law, or write an article about it, and
I'd get just as sure as I say believers are free from the law.
If it goes into print, I'll get 100 letters next day. How can
you say that? And this is what they say. If
I believed that, I'd go out and live like I want to. Oh, you
would. That comment betrays what's in
them. They're religious, but they hate
it. They really don't want to be. They try to behave so you'll
look at them and applaud them, but they really hate this thing.
But we'll obey God's law. We'll obey it. I'll tell you
the difference between that and believers. Believers delight
in it. Believers delight in its holiness,
in its perfection, and in its fulfillment. Now in verse 16,
our Lord says, The law and the prophets were until John. Now
strictly, he's talking about until the fulfillment of the
law by his obedience. But John the Baptist came and
was the forerunner of Christ. And from the time that John the
Baptist looked at him and said, behold, the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world, he was saying, that's the Passover
lamb. Law is fulfilled. Justice is
satisfied. The Old Testament prophets are
fulfilled. Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached. We
don't preach a kingdom to come now. We're not preaching a kingdom
in anticipation, but we come preaching Christ the King, a
kingdom established upon righteousness and obedience by the Son of God,
by his sacrifice. His right to rule as the God-man
is his obedience, and we proclaim the kingdom established, and
every man presseth into it. That word presseth is used only
one other time in the entire Bible. It's used in Matthew 11,
verse 12, and it means, and is translated there, suffereth violence. Since John the Baptist came and
laid the foundation and laid the way before me and declared
that I come now in the kingdom of God's come, the kingdom of
God's here, it's no longer something that's outside you. It's not
meat and drink, but rather it's righteousness and peace and joy
in the Holy Ghost. It's inside you. It's inside
you. It's Christ raining in you. Now,
every man presseth into it. He suffers violence getting into
it, and the violent take it by force. What on earth does that
mean? You scribes and Pharisees and
hypocrites, you have your ceremonies and you block up the way. You
won't go in. You try to block up the way with
prayers and deeds and doings and penances and shows. And if a man gets into this kingdom,
somehow he's got to get past the wall you built up to keep
him from coming in. your pretense of religion. He's
got to get past religion and it does so only when grace is
revealed in him by God's free grace. And then our Lord speaks
in verse 17 and declares that the Word of God stands and must
be fulfilled in every detail. He says in the 17th verse It's easier for heaven and earth
to pass away than for one jot or tittle of the law to fail.
Now, wait a minute. He told us in verse 16 that we've
come into a new age. And this new age is the age of
the kingdom of God. But then he says in verse 17,
the law of God is not going to fail, not even a hook. Not even
a jot or a tittle, not the slightest little part of a letter of the
law. Now you make that to refer to the law that God gave to Moses,
or make it to refer to the whole Word of God, both are true. And
our Lord says it'll all be fulfilled. It is fulfilled in me. Every
word. It's not going to fall to the
ground. It's not going to fail. The Word
of God stands forever. It will be fulfilled. And then
our Lord comes to verse 18. And everybody thinks, why did
he say this here? This is out of place. And he
says in verse 18, Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another,
committeth adultery. And whosoever marrieth her that
is put away from her husband, committeth adultery. Now, the
Word of God is crystal, crystal clear. Our Lord is here addressing
these Pharisees, and he says marriage is a lifelong union
between a man and a woman. That's a sermon in itself. Take
it wherever you want to. Any man or woman who breaks that
union, except on the grounds that he gave, either adultery,
or fornication, or abandonment, and marries another commits adultery.
Now when our Lord says that, He sticks his finger right smack
dab on that Pharisee's chest. You claim you live by the law. You claim you maintain holiness
according to the law of Moses. And he sticks his finger right
on the chest. He said, let's see. You've come
to destroy the law. You say I came to destroy it?
You say free grace destroys it? You destroy it. You destroy it. You see, the Pharisees were followers
of their great rabbis. And let me tell you what the
rabbis taught in their day. It was the common teaching of their
day. The famous rabbi Hilo, I presume that's how you pronounce his
name, lived during the days of Herod I, just slightly before
their time. He said that a man had the right
to divorce his wife if she burned his food. One who followed him, Akiva,
this rabbi, he taught, and he was the reign leader of the Pharisees,
he taught that a man could divorce his wife and marry another if
she found one who was prettier. Now, so commonly and easily did
these fine religious people divorce their wives and marry another
that when our Lord's disciples heard his instruction, you can
read it back in Matthew 19, He heard what he said about divorce
and what God's law said about it. He said the law hadn't changed.
What God said in Deuteronomy 24 still stands today. It hasn't
changed. This was the disciple's response. Well, if that's the case, if
the case of a man be so with his wife, if a man can't put
away his wife for any reason he wants to, it's good for a
man not to marry. If we can't get rid of it the
way we want to, we do not get mad. Sound familiar? Our Lord is here saying to these
Pharisees, you are just like that unjust steward I've been
talking about. You use God and his word and
everything you say about God for your own lust and the gratifying
of yourselves to make yourselves stand high before men. And soon,
soon, you are going to be like that rich man who in hell his
eyes and sees God's poor publicans and sinners. Poor Lazarus, who
laid by your gate, and you wouldn't turn him a second look. You'd
call the police and ask them, please get this poor man off
your doorstep. He's making your place look bad. You're going
to see him clothed in righteousness and
satisfied with me in my glory. And you're going to remember.
Oh, you're going to remember. All of this. To your everlasting
damnation. Let me show you one more passage
now, quick. Matthew, chapter five. Matthew, chapter five. Verse 20. I say unto you that except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven." What's he talking about? Your righteousness? Larry Brown,
if you get to glory, you've got to have something other than
righteousness you do. That's what he's talking about.
You've got to have something more than outward religion. You've got to have something
more than a profession of faith. You've got to have something
more than memorizing scripture and reciting it and singing,
oh, how I love Jesus. you got to have the righteousness
of God required in the law, the perfect righteousness of a man,
the righteousness that can be found only in the God-man, our
substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder if there's a Lazarus
here, willing to lay at mercy's gate, naked, and bare, hungry,
and needy. Anybody here who needs bread,
needs a little water, needs righteousness, God Almighty never refuses the
needy. He does. Come to Christ and you
will have that righteousness. that the scribes and Pharisees
of this world can never get. For of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us wisdom. Oh, I need some wisdom. I want
to know God. And righteousness. I need righteousness. And sanctification. I need something
that will lift me from the dumb heap of fallen humanity into
the kingdom of God. and redemption, deliverance from
all that I am. I've got it. All of it. For Christ is mine. And I've got it all in Him. All
by God's free gift and free grace. With no work of my own. that
according as it is written, he that glorieth. Let him glory
in the Lord. Oh, now, I'll do that. To God be the glory. Great things
He hath done. Amen.

That Which is Highly Esteemed

What does the Bible say about serving two masters?

How do we know God requires our hearts in worship?

Why is wholeheartedly following Christ important?

Why does God scoff at self-righteousness?

What is the significance of the law being fulfilled in Christ?

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That Which is Highly Esteemed

What does the Bible say about serving two masters?

How do we know God requires our hearts in worship?

Why is wholeheartedly following Christ important?

Why does God scoff at self-righteousness?

What is the significance of the law being fulfilled in Christ?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

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