What Mark said in three verses,
Matthew spends 39 verses in. So we're going to look at Matthew's
account of what the Lord said in those three verses in Mark. And I've entitled this message,
False Religion and True Religion. Now there is such a thing, James
put it this way in James chapter one, Beginning in verse 26, if
any man among you seem to be religious, appears to be religious, and
bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion
is vain. It's void of saving power. Pure religion, there is such
a thing. Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. If a man appears to be religious,
he doesn't bridle his tongue. Now, is that saying that people
who talk negatively about other people and are critical, they're
not saved? Well, we ought not talk critically
about other people. Isn't that so? We ought not. But that's really not what he's
talking about when he's talking about not bridling your tongue
from boasting about your works. That's the telltale sign. By
a man's words, he'll be justified, and by a man's words, he'll be
condemned. Now this man who appears to be
religious, but his tongue's not bridled, he's saying the same
old things. That man's religion is vain. There's no saving power to it.
Pure religion. Boy, I'm interested in that,
aren't you? Pure religion. I wanna know something about
this. Pure religion, that which comes from God, is to visit the
helpless, the fatherless, and the widows who have no protection. And to keep himself unspotted,
uninfluenced by this world, this religious world. Now turn with
me to Matthew chapter 23. I've entitled this, as I said,
False and True Religion. Now, why the order in the title? Why do I say false first and
then true? I'd rather hear the true, wouldn't
you? I like what Charles Spurgeon said when he said, if you want
to expose the falseness of something, stick a straight stick beside
it and you'll see the crookedness of the other stick. That's so.
But in this passage of scripture, the Lord begins with the false.
And you can't preach the gospel without exposing the false. That's just all there is to it.
Somebody says, I don't wanna hear about the false. Well, you're
going to. And the Lord gives his scathing
denunciation of the scribes and the Pharisees in this passage
of scripture. Now, I see 10 marks. of false religion in this passage.
We're gonna go over them briefly, and I'm gonna spend about the
first fourth of the message on the false. And I wanna spend
the rest of it turning those around and seeing what the true
is. Now, this message that the Lord preached
is the message that made the Pharisees say enough. We're putting this man out of
business. We're gonna do whatever it takes
to get rid of him. That was in response to this
particular message. Now let's read this passage of
scripture together. Verse one. Then spake Jesus to the multitude
and to his disciples, saying. Now remember in Mark's account
he said beware. Well here's why. The scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they
do, they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye
after their works, for they say and do not." Now there's the
first mark of false religion. They say, they tell you what
to do. They're quick to do that. They're
quick to correct you. They're quick to tell you what
you need to be doing. They say and do not. Verse four, for they bind heavy
burdens and grieve us to be born and lay them on men's shoulders,
but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. And here's the first mark of
false religion. They tell you what to do, but
they don't do what they tell you to do. They tell you to keep
the law, but they don't keep the law. They tell you to turn from your
sin, but they don't turn from their sin. They tell you to believe,
but they don't believe. They tell you to repent, but
they don't repent. They tell you to do what they
do not do. Look in verse five, here's the
second mark. But all, notice that word all, not most, all,
their works they do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries
and enlarge the borders of their garments, very impressive looking.
They love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats
in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. They love to
be recognized, to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. All their works they do to be
seen of men. Now, if you would read Matthew
chapter six, the Lord gives the works that we all must have if
the Lord has done anything for us. works of charity, works of
devotion, works of self-denial. Remember, almsgiving, works of
charity, prayer, put that under works of devotion, fasting, works
of self-denial, and he says with regard to all these things, all
their works they do to be seen of men. Verily I say unto you,
They have their reward. Let's say you have impressed
me. You've got your reward. Not much
of a reward, is it? But all their works, they do.
To be seen of men, look in verse eight. They love, verse seven, and greetings
in the market, to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi, they love
titles. But be not ye called Rabbi, For
one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. Call no man your father upon
the earth. For one is your father, which is in heaven. Now somebody's
thinking, am I not supposed to call my father, father? Am I
not supposed to call my dad, dad? What's this all about? Call no man your spiritual father. You know, people talk about winning
souls. Do you actually think you've
won a soul? Call no man upon earth, he's
my father, your spiritual father. There's only one holy father,
the one the Lord addressed, holy father. Call no man a title like
that. Neither be called masters for
one is your master. Even Christ, but he that's greatest
among you shall be your servant, and whosoever shall exalt himself
shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted."
Now in false religion, there is a love of recognition, there's
a love of titles, there's a love of hierarchy, there's clergy
laity. There's a love of those things. I'm the rabbi. He said,
don't you dare use some kind of religious title for yourself.
You're all brethren. That's it. One's your master,
Christ, and you are all brethren. Look what he says in verse 13. But woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up. the kingdom of heaven
against men. For ye neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye that are entering in to go in." Now here's the
fourth mark of false religion. There's a false message. And
no one, listen to me, no one enters the kingdom of heaven,
preacher or hearer, through that false message. You shut up the
kingdom of heaven against men. You don't go in and neither do
the people that hear you. Nobody is saved in that mess.
Verse 14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you devour widow's houses and for a pretense for
a show. Make long prayer, therefore you
shall receive the greater damnation. You rob widows. Who does the
false prophet pray on more than anybody else? Who do the TV preachers
get their money from? Widows. Widows. And for a pretense to impress
them, you make long prayers. In false religion, there is always
an abuse of people and a pretense to impress them to get what they
have. Look at verse 15. Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass sea and land
to make one proselyte. And when he is made, You make
him twofold more the child of hell than yourself. Proselytizing. I've influenced this person.
I've done something to aid them in their salvation. I've influenced
them. I brought them into my party.
I brought them into my way of thinking. I have been used of
God. You know, this desire of proselytizing. Look, I must be something because
God's using me. He's using me to bring people
into the kingdom. This spirit of proselytizing. He said, you compass land and
sea to make one proselyte. And look what happens when you've
made him. You make him twofold more the child of hell. than
yourself. That's what false religion does.
Let's go on reading verse 16 through 22. Woe unto you, you blind guides. Look at the way the Lord's talking
to these people. It's rough, isn't it? This is
the Lord Jesus speaking. Was he being harsh? No, no, he's
being true. Woe unto you, you blind guides,
would say, whosoever shall swear by the temple. It's nothing,
it's not binding, but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the
temple. He's bound to obey and do what
he said he's going to do. Now, the gold in the temple is
not talking about the gold that was used in the temple and the
construction of the temple. There was plenty of that. That's
not what he's talking about. He's talking about the gold you bring,
your gifts. Now, the temple's non-binding,
but if you swear by the gold in the temple, you have to do
what you said. Now, what is that? It's your works that makes things
binding. It's what you give, not the temple. Look what he says with regard
to that, you fools and blind. Verse 17, for whether is greater
the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold. They were saying the
gold's greater. Oh no, it's the temple which
is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who sanctifies
and makes fit and makes acceptable. Not your gift. Let's go on reading.
Verse 18, and whosoever shall swear by the altar, it's nothing.
He doesn't have to keep his promise. That's not binding. But whosoever
sweareth by the gift that's upon it, he is guilty. He's a debtor. He's bound to
pay his oath. Now, I want you to think about
this. What's more important, the gift you give or the altar,
the sacrifice of Christ that sanctifies the gift? Now, in
false religion, there's always more emphasis put on what you
do and what you give. It's what you do that activates
what he does. Nope, he says fools and blind. Verse 19, for whether
is greater the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift. Whosoever
therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it and all
the things thereon, and whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth
by it and by him that dwelleth therein, and he that shall swear
by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth
thereon. Now they inferred sanctification.
They make what they give the cause of sanctification rather
than the person and work of Christ, the temple and the altar, the
person and work of Christ. Look in verse 23, let's go on
reading. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have What? Omitted. You've left out. You've omitted the weightier
matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. You've majored
on minors, and you leave out the majors. You've omitted the
weightier matters. And look, notice the order. The
order's very important. Judgment. mercy and faith. Those are the weightier matters
of the law. First, judgment. You can't have
mercy at the expense of judgment. Judgment must be accomplished. Righteousness must be accomplished
before mercy can be given. But thank God, judgment is accomplished
and mercy comes from what he did. And you know what? Faith is believing that. Faith
is believing how God can be just and justify the ungodly. That's
where mercy comes from. And let me say this. You only
have mercy when you're guilty. As long as you're a victim, you
don't need mercy. You need justice. You need somebody to treat you
right. But when you're guilty, Oh, how you need mercy. How you need faith to believe
the gospel. Now he says to these fellas,
you've paid tithes. Somebody says, this shows that
you're supposed to pay tithes. I don't think so. Matter of fact,
I know not. We'll get into that at another
time. They made a big issue of paying tithes, but they've admitted
what was most important. He said in verse 24, you blind
guides. Here's his comment about verse
23. You blind guides would strain
at a gnat, and yet you'll swallow up a camel. False religion is
more concerned about what the outside looks like than what
happens on the inside. Verse 25, woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you may clean the outside
of the cup and of the platter, but within they're full of extortion
and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, Cleanse
first that which is within the cup and the platter, then the
outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites, for you're like whited sepulchers, whitewashed
graves, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within, full
of dead men's bones and all uncleanness, even so you also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within. You're full of hypocrisy and
iniquity, more concerned about the outside than the inside. Verse 29, woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets.
You garnish, you decorate the sepulchers of the righteous and
say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would have
not been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that you are the children
of them which kill the prophets. Fill up the measure of your fathers,
you serpents, you generation of vipers. How can you escape
the damnation of hell? You brag on dead preachers. You
identify with dead preachers. And you don't have anything to
do with living. How can you escape? What a question. These are the
words of the Lord. I can't think of a more sobering
thing that he says. He says to these people, ye serpents,
you generation of vipers, you brood of snakes, How can you
escape the damnation of hell? Well, they won't. They won't. But against this backdrop, a false religion that the Lord
tells us to beware of, and let me tell you why we need to beware
of it. It's in here. This is our natural religion.
This is what comes natural to us. Every one of these things. It's as natural as breathing.
And that's why I need to be told to beware. I'll go in this direction
for sure if he does not prevent me from it. Now, through these false marks,
we're given the marks of true saving religion. Are you interested in that? True
saving religion that God approves of, that actually comes from
God, that God inspires. That's what this is. Here's the
first mark. of true saving religion, true religion is not occupied
with what others do. It's not trying to tell others
what to do. True religion is occupied with
itself. Now what do I mean by that? Here's
what I mean. God be merciful to who? Me. The sinner. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Not, what about so and so? What
must I? Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am the chief. For to me, to me, to live is
Christ and to die is gain. You know, if you read Romans
7, I think that that is probably the most intimate Paul explaining or giving
us some view of what the inner life of a child of God is. You
can read about it in Romans 7. And 38 times, he uses the personal
pronoun, me, I, myself. True religion does what it calls
on other men to do. I'm calling on you to do what
I do. I do look to Christ only. I do repent and take sides with
God against myself. I'm not calling on you to do
something that I do not do myself. Secondly, true religion is concerned
with what God sees, not what men see. Now, I would be not
honest if I said, I don't care what y'all think about me, because
I do. I want you to love me. I want you to receive me. I want
you to accept me. I am very caring about what somebody thinks. But
when it comes right down to it, if you're pleased with me, and
God is not, what good would that do me? And what if you're not pleased
with me in any way and God is? Do I have any worries? We're
not concerned. about what other people see,
we're concerned about what God sees. And in true religion, unlike
false religion, there is a hatred of titles and hierarchy and recognition. I hate that stuff. I hate that
stuff. We're all brethren. Christ is
all. Everybody else is nothing. Amen?
We love that. We don't want it any other way.
We can't stand it when people are putting us in a place where
we know it's wrong. You feel uncomfortable with it.
We're so much more comfortable with no titles, being a nothing,
a nobody from nowhere, where Christ is all. And we love it
that way. That's the way true religion
is. They hate titles. There's an
abasing of self. You know, it's the unalterable
law of the kingdom of heaven. Look at verse 12 of Matthew 23. And whosoever shall exalt himself
shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be
exalted. Verse 13, woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, you shut up the kingdom of heaven
against men. True religion opens up the kingdom of heaven. Now,
what do I mean by that? True religion, the religion that
is inspired by God, opens up the kingdom of heaven. Well,
in John chapter 14, verse 6, the Lord said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. I am the way to the Father. I
am the way into the kingdom of heaven. I am the truth of who
God is and how the kingdom of heaven is open to men. My life,
I'm the life. It's my life of perfect obedience
that is the believer's personal righteousness. My life taken
away as the sin bearing substitute, as the propitiation that actually
removes sin. Me raised from the dead, my life
raised once again as the justification, the complete salvation of every
believer. My life as the intercessor. I
ever live at the right hand of the father to make intercession.
Me giving you life. Me preserving you, me presenting
you to the Father, wholly blameless and unapprovable before God,
I am the way into the kingdom of heaven. We've got the message. I'm the truth of who God is.
I'm the truth of who man really is. I'm the truth as to how God
saves sinners. Now, in true religion, we have
the truth that opens up the kingdom of heaven to men. Verse 14, woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows'
houses, and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore you shall
receive the greater damnation. Now, true religion, listen to
this, true religion is not about personal gain. It's about the
glory of God. It's not about personal gain,
abusing people, trying to get what they, we're all brethren.
We're all brethren. It's not about personal gain.
It's about God's glory. It's about loving people. By
this shall all men know you're my disciples. By your love one
to another. Oh, there's a true love for the
brethren in true religion. Not trying to abuse people, not
trying to take from them, but love. We love men. We want them
to hear the gospel. We want them to be saved. There's
a genuine love, not an abusing of people. True religion is not
about making proselytes. What did Paul say? Christ sent
me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. That's
what true religion's about. It's not about trying to see
how many, how much, how many we can get, how many we can influence. How God is using me, how I'm
being used, no. It's not about proselytizing.
It's about preaching the gospel. Now, here's what I mean by this.
I can't win anybody to Christ. You know, it always bothers me
when preachers say so and so warned the gospel through that
message. How do you know? How do you know? You have no
idea. You know, that's a really dumb
thing to say. I hope none of us will ever say anything like
that. proselytizing. We preach the gospel, knowing
we can't save anybody, and we stand back and see what the Lord
does. It's not about proselytizing. Verse 16, we don't invert sanctification,
woe unto you, you blind guides would say, and I've already read
that passage of scripture. Um, true religion does not invert
sanctification. It's not your works or gifts
that sanctify you. It's Christ, the temple. It's
Christ, the altar. That's what sanctifies. It's
not your works. It's not your gifts. It's not
what you do that activates what he does. You know, true religion really
believes that Christ is all. And it rejects anything contrary
to that. It just flat out rejects it. Christ is all. That makes everything else nothing. And I think this is very interesting.
I can tell what you believe about sanctification by what you believe
about justification. If you're right on justification, you're
right on everything else. I have no doubt about that. And
I can tell what you believe about sanctification, or I can tell
what you believe about justification by what you believe about sanctification.
If you believe you're progressively sanctified and become more holy
by the things you do and become less sinful, I know what you
believe about justification. You don't believe it at all.
The gospel is one truth manifested by different truths in that one
truth. If you take one away, you take
it all away. In true religion, we don't invert sanctification.
And true religion does not omit the weightier matters of the
law, judgment. Christ accomplished salvation,
complete judgment. God has made a way to be just.
And yet, have mercy on somebody like me in a way that completely
honors his justice. Judgment. Mercy, not as expensive
judgment, but mercy. He's a just God and a savior,
Isaiah tells us. Mercy, salvation by the mercy
of God. Oh, I need mercy. I don't want
God to give me what I got coming. I want him to give me what Christ
has got coming. That's mercy. And faith is believing
that. Those are the weightier matters
of the law. And then he spoke in verses 25
through 28 about the religion, the religion is more concerned
about cleaning up the outside and not nothing about the inside. Let me tell you something about
my inside. My inside needs a new heart. How can I say this? If you tell me that your heart
needs to be changed, I'm left with no hope. None at all. I need a new heart. David said, create in me a clean
heart, oh God. That's the pure heart the Lord
talked about. Clean up your heart. Won't you
invite Jesus into your heart? Give me a new heart. Clean on
the inside. That's the only kind there is
that's clean. And in closing, true religion
doesn't brag on dead preachers and disown living ones. You know,
you have so much of that, particularly in Reformed theology. We identify
with Calvin and Luther and so on, and if they were alive today,
they wouldn't have anything to do with them. They'd stay away
from them. True religion identifies with
the truth. True religion identifies with
the church of the living God, the gospel. Birds of a feather
flock together, don't they? That's what true religion does.
Doesn't brag on dead preachers and dismiss everything else. That's what false religion does.
Now, here we go. True religion is occupied with
self, not telling everybody else what to do. It's concerned with
what God sees and not with what men see. There's humility, abasing
of yourself. What's more beautiful than humility
and what's more ugly than pride? There's true humility and abasing
of self. The true religion has the message
that opens up heaven, Christ and him crucified. It's not about
personal gain, devouring widow's houses, It doesn't proselytize. It doesn't invert sanctification.
It doesn't omit the weightier matters of the law. It identifies
with the gospel. is concerned about what God does
on the inside, not just cleaning up the outside. May the Lord
grant us this true religion. Now, when the Lord ended up this
statement with these people, when he described false religion,
he said in verse 33, you serpents. Strong language, isn't it? You
generation of vipers. How can you escape the damnation
of hell? You can't. You can't. Somebody says, God have mercy
on your soul. He won't. He won't. But I can say with
just as much conviction regarding to those who are the recipients
of true religion, God's religion. Paul put it this way. He that
spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not? What could possibly prevent him
from giving us freely all things? Which religion am I in, the false
or the true? Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
Lord Jesus Christ, your glorious son. How we thank you for every
word that comes from his mouth. And Lord, we ask in his name
that we would be delivered from the false religion that's natural
to our hearts. And that you would give us this
that comes from you. May we be found in Christ. May
Christ be in us. In Christ's blessed name we pray.
Amen.