I love to think of His love to
me, when with the ransomed in glory, His face I at last shall
see, it will be my joy through the ages to sing of His love
for me. Would you turn back to Matthew
chapter 23, tonight I'm going to be Speaking on this subject, what
is the church? It's from Ephesians chapter five,
that great passage we've been looking at for some several weeks.
Six times he mentions the church. What is the church? I have entitled this message,
The Weightier Matters of the Law. Now this is what the Lord
calls the weightier matters. This is not what some preacher
says who's harping on some pet doctrine. This is what the Lord
says are the weightier matters of the law. That ought to get
our attention. Matthew chapter 23 is just a
few days before the crucifixion of the Lord, and the Lord knew
this was getting ready to take place. He knew his hour had finally
come, his reason for coming, to die on a cross. And the scribes and the Pharisees,
the conservative fundamentalists of his day, wanted him dead. Now they wanted him dead before
this message. As a matter of fact, very early
in the Lord's public ministry, they took counsel together how
they might destroy him. But this particular message in
Matthew chapter 23 sealed the deal. We're not going to have
this. And this is the message that
more than any other message led to them nailing him to a cross. Now he said regarding these people,
look in the first part of this chapter, verse one, then spake
Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples saying, the scribes
and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever
they bid you observe that observe and do, but do not ye after their
works. For they say, and do not, they
have expectations of you that they will never be willing to
live up to. Look what they do. Verse four.
For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born, telling
you what you need to do, and lay them on men's shoulders,
but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. Now, they've got high expectations
of you, but they always let themselves off the hook. Verse 5, he says, all their works
they do for to be seen of men. They don't know about doing anything
in God's sight. They really don't care. They
just care about what men see, seeking to impress the flesh. All their works they do to be
seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries
and enlarge the borders of their garments and Love the uppermost
rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and
greetings in the market to be called of men. Rabbi, rabbi,
they love titles. I am right reverend so-and-so. I am doctor so-and-so. I am, they love titles. Something that separates them
from others. Now, in this passage of Scripture,
the Lord ends with these words to these people that he's preaching
to. Look in verse 33. Ye serpents, ye generation of
vipers, how can you escape The damnation of hell. And he wasn't smiling when he
said this. Now, in this passage of scripture,
the Lord calls these people hypocrites. That's strong language. Children
of hell. Blind guides. Fools and blind. Full of extortion. Excess, hypocrisy,
and iniquity. Whitewashed graves full of dead
men's bones. Now that is strong language for
him to refer to these religious people in this light. And during this message, he pronounces
eight woes upon these people. Read them with me. Look in verse
13. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites. For you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men. How? By not preaching the gospel.
For you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are
entering to go in. Verse 14, woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites. for you devour widows' houses,
and for a pretense, for show, make long prayer, therefore you
shall receive the greater damnation. Verse 15, woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass sea and land and
make one proselyte, one convert, seeking to win souls, and when
he's made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Verse 16, woe unto you, you blind guides, which say, whosoever
shall swear by the temple, it's nothing, but whosoever shall
swear by the gold of the temple, he's a debtor. Now, what are
they saying? You swear by the temple, it's
not even valid. But if you swear by the gold
in the temple, that's what makes it count. What he says, you fools,
Verse 17, and blind for where there's greater the gold or the
temple that sanctifies the gold. Now the temple is Christ. He's
the one who sanctifies. Let's go on, verse 18, and whosoever
shall swear by the altar, it's nothing, but whosoever swears
by the gift that's upon the altar, the gift that I've given, he's
guilty. You fools and blind for where
there's greater the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift.
Now, the point is the temple and the altar, the person and
work of Christ is what sanctifies, not something I do or give, but
they were putting the emphasis on their gifts. Our text, we'll
come back to that in a moment in verse 23, but he says in verse
25, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you
may clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but within,
you're full of extortion and excess. You're making an emphasis
on what something looks like on the outside and giving no
attention to the inside. Verse 26, Thou blind Pharisee,
cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter, that
the outside may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, if you're here like white sepulchers, whitewashed
graves, which indeed appear beautiful on the outside, but are within
full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so,
you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within You're full
of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and
you garnish the graves of the righteous and say, if we'd been
in the days of our fathers, we wouldn't have been partakers
with him in the blood of the prophets. Kind of like people bragging
on Martin Luther and John Calvin and those guys. And boy, they
were something. They wouldn't have had anything
to do with them today if they were alive today. They'll brag on dead prophets,
but have nothing to do with living. Verse 31, wherefore you be witnesses
unto yourselves that you are the children of them which kill
the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your fathers, you
serpents, you generation of vipers. How can you escape the damnation
of hell? Now let's go to our text in verse
23. Listen to this woe. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites. For you pay tithe of mint and
anise and cumin, you're very exact in your tithing, and yet
you've omitted, you've left out the weightier matters of the
law. Judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought you to have done
and not left the other undone. I looked on Sermon Audio, maybe
some of you don't know what that is, but it's where you can get
sermons and find scriptures, what men have said with regard
to certain scriptures, and there were a lot of sermons on this
text. There were a lot of sermons.
You know what they were about? Tithing. Tithing. This proves tithing. These ought ye to have done.
They tithe, these ought ye to have done. You ought to tithe. You ought to give 10% of your
income. And this is the verse that's
used to prove that Christians should tithe. These ought ye
to have done. You should have tithed just like
them. Do you believe in tithing? No, I don't. The scripture does not teach
in the New Testament tithing. It was an Old Testament law. It's like paying a bill under
an Old Testament law. Does the New Testament teach
tithing? No. Every man, Paul said, according
as he purposes in his heart, so let him give. Not grudgingly
or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. Paul said, we are to give as
God has prospered us. You know, for a lot of us, if
we gave as God prospered us, we'd give more than a tithe,
wouldn't we? If we give as God has prospered us. He says, you're
so exact in your tithing, and I bet you they didn't give a
penny more. How much you want to bet? They figured it out right
down to the percentage. This is what I'm going to give,
even of my tithe, mint, and cumin. The Lord says, you've been exact
in your tithing, but you've omitted. You've left out. In Luke's account,
it says you've passed over. The wavier matters of the law. Now, this tells me that there
are some things that are just more important than other things.
The thought that came to my mind was Martha and Mary. Remember
when the Lord was coming to their home? If the Lord Jesus Christ
was coming to your home, you reckon you'd want to make things
perfect? You'd want to fix the best meal
you've ever fixed? You'd want the house to be clean? My, I know I would. Len, get
this taken care of. Um, that is what everyone would
do. And Martha was very concerned
about getting everything taken care of. And she got, she looked
at her sister, Mary, sitting at the feet of Christ doing nothing,
hearing his word. And she got mad and said, Lord,
don't you care that she's left everything to me? And the Lord
said, Martha, Martha, you're careful. You're troubled about
many things, but one thing is needful. One thing is necessary. Hearing my word, Mary hath chosen
that good part and it shall not be taken from her. There's nothing
more important than that. Now he's not criticizing their
tithing. He said, these ought you to have
done under the old Testament law. You should have. not let the other undone. I like
what he says in verse 24, you blind guides which strain at
a gnat and swallow a camel. You major on minors and you minor
on majors. Now, another very important principle
that's taught before we get into what exactly these weightier
matters are is that a false prophet is quite often identified by
what he does not say, not by what he does. You may agree with
everything he says, but my dear friends, the gospel has a content
that if that content is not preached, The gospel is not preached and
we don't have to speculate right now as to what that content is.
The Lord gives it to us. Judgment, mercy, and faith. Judgment. This is what you've
left out. Judgment. Now this word is what
is always used with reference to judgment day. Judgment. Turn with me for a moment to
Genesis chapter 18. Now this is when the Lord was
going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And we read beginning in verse
17, and the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham the thing
which I do? seeing that Abraham shall surely
become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed in him, for I know him, that he'll command
his children in his household after him, and they shall keep
the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may
bring upon Abraham that which he had spoken of." Now, if that's
just talking about his physical ascendance, he knows how they'll
be good. Boy, he was wrong there, wasn't he? I mean, they were
a disobedient, sinful bunch, but this is talking about the
true children of Abraham. Those who believe the gospel,
they will do justice and judgment, believing the gospel. Verse 20,
and the Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is
great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down
now and see whether they have altogether according to the cry
of it, which is coming to me. And if not, I'll know. And the
men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom, but Abraham
stood before the Lord. And Abraham drew near and said,
wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Now, Abraham
lets us know at this time, there are two kinds of people in this
world, the righteous and the wicked. And I love saying this. I've said it a lot. Say it again. All the righteous believe themselves
to be wicked and all of the wicked believe
themselves to be righteous, or at least able to become righteous. If everything works out. Verse 24 per adventure, there'd
be 50 righteous within the city. Wilt thou also destroy and not
spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein? That be far
from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the
wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked. That
be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right. Now, Abraham demonstrates what
all men know intuitively. God is just and will reward the
righteous and punish the wicked. You know that, don't you? God
is just. He will reward the righteous
and punish the wicked. Turn with me to Matthew 20, and
this is the passage of scripture that actually inspired this message.
I don't think I'd ever really got a hold of this part of this
parable. Verse one, for the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a man that is in householder, which went out early in the morning
to hire laborers unto his vineyard. And when he'd agreed with the
laborers for a penny a day, this is six o'clock in the morning,
he sent them out into his vineyard. And he went out about the third
hour, nine o'clock in the morning, and saw others standing idle
in the marketplace. And he said to them, go ye also
into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right. That's very important. Whatsoever is right. I will give
you and they went their way and he went out about the six hour,
the ninth hour and did likewise. He came out at 12, three and
five o'clock and he said to every one of these people, whatever
is right, I'll give you. I'm going to give you exactly
what is right. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? About the 11th hour, he went
out and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why
stand ye here all the day idle? They said unto him, Because no
man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard,
and whatsoever is right you shall receive. You will get exactly
what is right. So when the evening was come,
the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, call the labors
and give them their hire, beginning from the last into the first.
And when they came that were hired about the 11th hour, they
received every man a penny. But when the first came, they
supposed that they should have received more. Now put yourself
in their place. Wouldn't you make the same supposition?
I worked 12 hours. They worked one hour. I ought
to get more. I guarantee you I'd be thinking
that. I've done more. I ought to get more. Verse 11, and when they had received
it, the penny, They murmured against the good man of the house.
This is not fair, saying these that have wrought but one hour
and thou has made them equal to us, which have borne the burden
and heat of the day. But he answered one of them and
said, friend, I do thee no wrong. I do thee no wrong. You see,
he always gives what is right. I do thee know wrong. Thirteen, he answered one of
them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not
agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy
way. I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not
lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is thine I evil,
because I am good? So the last shall be first, and
the first last for many shall be called, but few chosen. Now
think of what he said to this one who worked twelve hours.
Twelve times more than the other felon said I do thee no wrong.
You know why it's not wrong because he said it Any other reason needed? He said it he said can I not
do what I will with my own Yes, he can this is who he is But
when he gave the 12-hour workers and the one-hour workers the
same thing. You know why? Because he always
does that which is right. You see, the 12-hour workers
got exactly what they had coming, and the one-hour workers got
exactly what they got coming. Now, where are you coming from
with this? One worked more than the other. They got what was
right because this picture's the gospel. Everybody gets the
same thing, don't they? You know why? Because Christ
took my sin and made it his very own and put it away. And he gives
me his righteousness. And what he gives me is right. Whether 12 hours or one hour,
all given the same thing, What Christ gives me and every believer
is what is right. And if you're saved, it will
be because you are perfectly righteous in God's sight and
he's giving you that which is right. Isn't that glorious? When God calls my name, he's
going to say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You
cringe, could he say that to me? Yeah, because you have the
very righteousness of Christ as your personal righteousness
before God. He gives all that which is right. Now here's the gospel. Christ
took my sins and he made them his very own.
so that he actually became guilty of the commission of those sins.
And you know what he did? God's wrath killed him. And that perfect
righteousness of his is given to me. Now this is every believer's
testimony. This is every believer's testimony.
They overcame him by the blood of the lamb. This is what every
believer believes. And we get that which is right. It's called judgment. Judgment. That's the first thing that he
mentions with regard to the weightier matters of the law. Judgment.
The gospel is a thing of judgment. It's a thing of righteousness.
It's a thing of God giving that which is right. Turn with me
to John chapter nine. Verse 39. John 9, 39, and Jesus said for judgment. I have come into this world. I've come for judgment and the
cross is the manifestation of God's judgment. God's perfect
righteousness for judgment. If I come into this world that
they would see not might see and they which see might be made
blind. Somebody says, I cannot see why
God would ever save me. That's the person he saves. Somebody
says, well, I can see why God saved me. Look at the things
I've done. Christ says, you're blinded. Verse 40, and some of the Pharisees
which were with him heard these words and said unto him, are
we blind also? Jesus said unto them, if you
were blind, what are the next words? You should have no sin. That's what the Lord's work on
the cross did. Made it to where I have no sin
he was manifested to take away our sins in him is no sin but now you say we see therefore
your sin remaineth can you see why God would save you look at
all the things you've done look at all the things you've given
up Your sin remains. What a terrifying thought. I don't have statistics, but
the great majority of preachers do not as much as touch the subject
of how God can be just and justify the ungodly. It's kind of relegated
to the heap of dull and uninteresting subjects. But it's the very heart
and soul of the character of God. It's the very heart and
soul of the gospel. And those that do deal with how
God can be just and justify or water it down so much that it's
not real. Well, he gives us a good standing before the law, even
though that's not the way we really are. That's just watering
it down and not even preaching it. I love the way The Lord said
when he proclaimed his name before Moses, he said, the Lord, the
Lord God, you can read this in Exodus chapter 34, the Lord,
the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, abundant in goodness
and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that will buy No means clear
the guilty. Now that, my dear friends, is
the character of the living God. He is a just God and a savior. And his justice is a manifestation
of his goodness, that he's made a way to be just and justify
ungodly sinners like you and I. Now, the first aspect of the
gospel is judgment. And the cross is the great manifestation
of the judgment of God. Now, if I admit this, I'm one
of those that he pronounces his woe against. You've omitted judgment. Now, the next thing that he mentions
is mercy. Now that judgment has been accomplished,
mercy can come freely. Judgment and mercy. I've heard Men say he must be
just. He may be merciful. Nope. He
must be just. He must be merciful because he
delights in mercy. He delights. Listen to me. This is scripture. He delights
in mercy. He's more willing to bestow his
mercy on you than you are to receive it. He delights in mercy. He loves demonstrating mercy
to sinners. Oh, it's all a part of his goodness
and his love. He delights. Do you hear that? He delights in mercy. Now these men omit mercy by never
preaching mercy. They use the word. I suppose
every preacher to ever live has used the word mercy, but they
do not mean what God's word says with regard to mercy. Now, to
understand anything about God's mercy, you have to understand
this thing of guilt. You know what that means? That means your sin and my sin
It's all your fault. Is your sin all your fault? You can't be a victim, a victim
of God's sovereignty, a victim of your circumstances, a victim
of the way people have treated you. Is your sin all your fault? You can't blame somebody else.
You can't be like Adam, the woman you gave me. She gave me the
fruit and I didn't eat. No. If your sin's not all your
fault, what you need is justice. You need God to pay you back
for what you have coming to you. And if that's the ground you
want to take, he'll meet you on that ground. But if your sin is all your fault,
you need mercy. Turn with me to Romans chapter
9, verse 11. For the children, Romans 9, 11,
talking about Jacob and Esau coming out of the same womb for
the children being not yet born. Neither having done any good
or evil that the purpose of God, according to election might stand. It's still standing. Not of works, but of him that calleth. It was
said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger as it's written. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair? Is it wrong for
him to make this difference? To hate Esau? I am amazed at looking at other
translations that says he loved Esau less. Can an infinite God
love less? No. Jacob have I loved? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God unfair in that? Is he not being just and right?
Now, whenever we even think that, all of a sudden we're saying
God owes me something. We're not taking responsibility
for our sin. You take a Jacob. We ought to
be more amazed by his love to Jacob than his hatred of Esau.
Jacob was a very deceitful man. He was a very sinful man. He'd
rip you off. Don't think he wouldn't. You
wouldn't like him. He tried to take what was yours. You look
through his history. I mean, his name means supplant
or deceiver. And that's what he was. He deceived
his brother twice. He deceived Laban. But God said, Jacob have I loved. He made it to where Jacob deserved
his love. You see, he put away his sin.
He made him perfectly righteous. And he did this in a way that
honored his judgment. Judgment. Once judgment has been
accomplished by what Christ accomplished on the cross, the gates of mercy
are open. And listen, there's nobody to
guide them. If you don't receive mercy, it's
because you never asked for it. Anybody who asks for mercy, I
don't care who you are. Anybody who asks for mercy receives
mercy. Now you can only ask for mercy
if your sin is all your fault. If your sin is not all your fault,
you cannot possibly ask for mercy. But if your sin is all your fault,
the only thing that will do you any good is mercy. Judgment. mercy, and faith. In Romans chapter four, verse
five, Paul says to him that worketh not, you have been convinced that
salvation by works for you is impossible. You have some idea
of what you are, and you know that if salvation is dependent
upon you doing something, it's over for you. To him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. Now, who is this person? He knows
he can't be saved by his works, but he believes that what Christ
did actually, literally, truly justified the ungodly. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that what he did justified the ungodly? With that person who
believes, that's the evidence of their salvation. His faith
is counted for righteousness. Faith's ground is the word of
God. What I'm speaking of is scriptural. I'm appealing to the scripture.
I'm not saying believe this because I said it. It's what I've said
according to the scripture. Faith's ground is the word of
God. Faith's object is Christ himself. Faith is not you believing you're
saved. Faith is believing that He is the Savior. Faith is not
believing that Christ died for your sins. Faith is believing
that He accomplished salvation by what He did, and that's your
only hope. Faith is not knowing you're one of the elect. Faith
is knowing that Christ is God's prophet, God's priest and God's
king and all of salvation is in him. And you are relying only
on him. You're relying on the judgment
that he accomplished on Calvary's tree. You're relying on mercy
coming simply because of that to guilty, hell deserving sinners. That's what you believe. That's
what you believe. That's the actual content of
faith. Judgment, mercy, and faith. Now, this is what the weightier
matters of the law are. Now, listen to this statement. God's law has one purpose, just one, to declare the gospel, to show us judgment, mercy, and
faith. are the weightier matters of
the law. The judgment Christ accomplished
on the cross opened up the door of mercy. And this is who we
believe. I love what Paul said, I know
whom I believed. And I am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed to him. What have you
committed to him, Paul? all the concerns of my soul's
salvation. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed to him against that day." We're going to have a baptism
now. Silas Benton, he grew up in this
church. I remember when his mommy and
daddy came about 25 years ago. Is it, what year were you all
baptized? 94, 95, something? 95, okay, 25 years ago. And what
a joy. Remember this, baptism is confessing
that all your salvation is found in the doing and dying and raising
from the dead of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our confession
of faith.