Well, the gospel just continues
to become more mysterious, more awesome. I was thinking of that
line of, this I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid
my ransom. And to think of seeing the Lord
in glory and beholding his wounds. I love thinking about that. I
won't even remember what it's like to be a sinner. I can't imagine that. But his
wounds will let me know there's one reason why I'm there. I've entitled this message, Six
Woes. That sounds like a negative title
for a message, I suppose, but you know where I got it from
reading that passage of scripture where the Lord pronounced six
woes on certain individuals. Now, you can't read the pages
of the New Testament without seeing the marked difference
that the Lord treated sinners with and religious people with. There was a marked difference,
wasn't there? The woman taken in adultery, caught in the very
act, the Lord said, where are those thine accusers? Hath no
man condemned thee? She replied, no man, Lord. And
he said, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. I think of the woman in Luke
chapter 7, who was said to be a sinner, and she was washing
the Lord's feet with her tears, wiping them dry with her hair.
She didn't say a word, but the scripture points out she was
a sinner. I don't know what all was involved in this woman's
life, but the Lord said to her so pitifully, thy faith hath
saved thee. Go in peace. I think of the woman at the well. She was so confused. He said,
if you knew the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee,
give me to drink, you would have asked. and he would have given
to you living water. And she was still confused. And
the Lord said, go call your husband and come hither. And she said,
I don't have a husband. He said, you've had five husbands.
And this sets out truly the one you're living with now is not
my husband. And she became even more confused. And she started using Both barrels
of religious language. Well, you say men ought to worship
in this mountain, and we say it ought to be in this mountain,
and... She was so confused. And she finally said, I know
that when Messiah cometh, he'll tell us all things. And he said
something to her, he said to very... I don't remember anybody
else. He said, I that speak unto thee,
am he. I think of that leper. coming
to the Lord filled with leprosy, saying, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. And the scripture says he was
moved with compassion and reached forth his hand and touched him. When was the last time he'd felt
a human touch? The Lord reached forth his hand
and touched him and said, I will be thou clean. I think of the way he was with
the thief on the cross. No one was given this kind of
assurance. Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. How different he was with people
of this reputation. The Lord Jesus was called by
his enemies the friend. of publicans and sinners. Blasher, I'm thankful for that,
aren't you? The friend of sinners. But how different he spoke to
the Pharisees. You see, he was not the friend
of the Pharisees. You can't read the pages of the
New Testament and conclude anything else. I repeat, he was not the
friend of the Pharisees. You read the scathing denunciations
that he had toward them. Now he saved Pharisees. He saved
Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee.
He saved Nicodemus. I'm thankful he saves Pharisees,
aren't you? There wouldn't be any salvation for me if he didn't.
The Pharisee is the religion of all of us by nature, but he
was not the friend of Pharisees the way he was the friend of
publicans and sinners. Now, I believe that passage I
read in Luke chapter 11 is given at a different time than that
passage in Matthew chapter 23, when he says much the same things.
Because in Matthew chapter 23, the scripture says he spake to
the multitude. And here he was in a man's house
by the name of Simon. But they said pretty much, he
said pretty much the same things at both times. The Lord repeated
himself a lot. Repetition is good. It's a good
thing. Paul said to write the same things
to you. To me indeed is not grievous,
but for you it is safe. Do you ever get tired of hearing
about what you are and your need of him? and the freeness of his
grace, and the perfection of his righteousness, and the completeness
of his salvation. Do you ever think, well, let's
go on to something else? No, not if you're a believer.
To write the same things to me to you indeed is not grievous.
It's not irksome, but for you it is safe. Now, in Matthew chapter
23, eight times he calls them hypocrites. You know, if you call someone
a hypocrite to their face, that's strong. I know you've probably
walked away from somebody and said it in your breath, hypocrite.
And like I said last week, every time I do that, a little voice
hits me. Oh, they're hypocrites? What
about you? You're the biggest one of the
bunch. I'm going to preach on hypocrisy in a week or two. I'm
looking forward to it. I think I know something about
it is why. I don't know how many times people
have said, I don't want to go to church because there's too
many hypocrites there. And my automatic response is, you ought
to feel right at home. You'd fit right in if that's the case.
You'd fit right in. But eight times the Lord calls
these people to their face, hypocrites, in Matthew chapter 23. Twice
he said, you fools and blind. Twice he called them blind guides. And when he finished that message
in Matthew chapter 23, he said, you serpents, you generation
of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? The fact
of the matter is they couldn't escape the damnation of hell. Now, when the Savior says, whoa,
You know, every one of us has gone off on to tirades, get mad,
start saying all kinds of things and pronouncing woes against
people and you're this and you're that. But this is not some man
who's lost his temper and acting like a fool. This is the son
of God. And when he pronounces a woe, there's no deliverance from his
hand. This same one who is mighty to
save the sheep. is mighty to destroy the goats,
and there is no deliverance from his hand. Now, like I said in
Matthew's account, you might want to look at Matthew chapter
23 this week. We've looked at it before. He
gives eight woes, but here he gives six woes, and we're going
to confine ourselves to that. And may we be enabled to see
if these six woes could be pronounced against us. I want to say, examine
me, O Lord. Prove me. Try my heart. and see
if there be any wicked way in me. Now the setting of this is
in a Pharisee's house. Look in verse 37 of Luke chapter
11. We looked at this a few weeks ago. And as he spake, a certain
Pharisee besought him to dine with him. And he went in and
sat down to meet. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled
that he'd not first washed before dinner. Now understand this is
not talking about personal hygiene. The word is not the word that's
generally used for wash, it's your hands are unbaptized. It
was talking about ceremonial cleansing. It wasn't talking
about washing your hands before dinner because I think how many
thousands of times has my wife asked me if I wash my hands.
I mean, she does it, I bet you've done it today. I mean, it happens
constantly. She's been amazed when I eat
with unwashing hands. And, but that doesn't have anything
to, washing your hands is a good practice. Everybody ought to
wash their hands. But it's not talking about personal hygiene
because they didn't know anything about that at this time. The
Lord did, but they didn't. But the Pharisees had all these
rules about how you need to wash your hands before you eat to
make yourself clean, unless you touch something that had been
dead or defiled and you defile yourself. So look at the Lord's
reply, verse 39. And the Lord said unto him, Now
do you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter,
but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. You
fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which
is within also, but rather give alms of such things as you have.
And behold, all things are clean unto you. But here's the first
woe, but woe unto you Pharisees. For you tithe mint and rue and
all manner of herbs, and you pass over judgment and
the love of God. Now these ought ye to have done.
He was not criticizing them for tithing. He says, these ought
ye to have done and not to leave the other undone. Now what the Lord is criticizing
them for is what they did not say. You leave out, you omit, you
pass over what you need to be speaking of, judgment and the
love of God. Now understand this, whenever
the gospel is preached, there is a content that must be preached,
or the gospel is not preached. And quite often, what condemns
someone is not what they say. It's what they do not say. It's
what they leave out. It's what they pass over. It might be that you agree with
everything they say. And everything they say, you'd
say, well, I agree with that. I didn't hear him say anything
bad. It was all right. But they pass over. They leave
out that which is critical. And in leaving this out, the
content of the gospel is not preached. Now here are the two
words the Lord uses to describe the content of the gospel is
judgment and the love of God. These two words are so important. and the love of God. Now, a false
prophet may use the word judgment. Judgment's coming. Are you ready?
Judgment's coming. He may use the word the love
of God. Oh, God is love. God loves everybody. He wants
to save you. They may use those terms, judgment
and the love of God, but they don't give the meaning Christ
gives to them. Now, this thing of judgment,
every time I preach, may I preach judgment. May I preach how God
can be just and justify somebody like me. That must be dealt with
every time we preach judgment. The gospel of Christ is a thing
of judgment. God is judge. He's the judge
of the earth. Sin must be punished. I'm a sinner. How can I avoid
being punished? How can I avoid being sent to
hell? My sin. God lifted it off of me and put
it on His Son and He justly dealt with sin. What I actually deserve
right now, I deserve to be cut off He was cut off in my place. Judgment took place. God's justice was glorified and
honored. Judgment took place. Now, the
message of the gospel is a message of justification. I love, I can't
get enough of this thing of being justified before God. that I
actually possess perfect righteousness and I have no sin before God
because the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that one who is
punished, is my personal righteousness. And I'm not ashamed of my life. Put it up on a screen, it's all
perfect. It's all good. It's all right.
That is the righteousness of Christ. That's my righteousness.
That's my personal righteousness before God. And it's the thing
that honors God's justice. and when I stand before God in
judgment, He's gonna look at me and He's gonna say, well done,
thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna enter into the joy
of my Lord because I have done well and I have been faithful. How can you say that? Because
even when I make a statement like that, I cringe. When I make
a statement like that. If Jesus Christ did well, I did
well. If Jesus Christ the Lord is faithful,
I'm faithful. Will Christ hear from his Father,
well done, thou good and faithful servant? Yes, he will. And I will too. That's judgment. God is just. Don't you love the
justice of the gospel? Don't you love the righteousness
of the gospel? I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it's the power of God to salvation. In it, the
righteousness of God is revealed. Now, is judgment preached? And then he speaks of the love
of God. The love of God is behind everything
in salvation. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Now
let me tell you something about God's love. It's saving love. If He
loves you, you'll be saved. You are saved. You've always
been saved in His purpose and mind. That's the love of God. Saving love. It's not some kind
of generic, God loves everybody, wants to save everybody and make
salvation possible for everybody, but it's up to you. There's no,
that makes the love of God absolutely meaningless. Somebody believes
that doesn't even know what the love of God is. God's love is
saving love. And he says to these men, you've
passed over judgment and the love of God. Now, to willfully withhold the gospel is to have Christ say, woe unto
you. That's what he says to these
people. Woe unto you. You paid tithes. I'm not criticizing
for that, but you've left out, you've omitted, you've passed
over the weightier matters of the law. Now, understand this.
Remember this, I say this a lot, I'm going to say it again. A
false prophet is generally identified not by what he says, but by what
he does not say. May God give me and you the discernment
to be able to hear. Not like the Pharisees were when
they were trying to catch him in his words and try to find
something they could find fault with. I never want to hear like
that. I don't want to hear with a fault-finding attitude, but
I want to hear with a discerning spirit and a discerning heart,
so I know the difference. The first woe is passing over
what should be said. Now look at the next one, verse
43. He says, Woe unto you Pharisees,
for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues and greetings
in the markets. Woe be unto those that love human
recognition and human praise. Oh, you love for people to see
and say, there's the rabbi, there's the teacher, how you doing? We're
so glad we get to know you. You've been such a positive influence
in our life. Oh, hi Rabbi. Hello. He loves it. He loves it. The love of human
recognition and human praise. The uppermost seats in the synagogue
so that all can see them. Greetings in the market. You
remember in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter six
where the Lord dealt with good works, almsgiving, he dealt with
works of devotion, prayer, and he dealt with works of self-denial,
fasting. Those three things, good works,
that's our good works toward men, almsgiving, works of devotion,
that's our attitude toward God, prayer, and works of self-denial
represented by fasting. And what did he say with regard
to the Pharisees, why they did what they do? He said, all their
works they do to be seen of men. Who hadn't been guilty of wanting
to be seen of men? who hadn't been guilty of wanting
to be recognized as a man or woman of God. But he says all their works,
this is the only reason they do it, this is the only reason,
to be seen of men. This has been controlled by the
lust of the eyes. You know, when the Lord talks
about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the lust
of the eyes is being more concerned about what men think of you than
what God thinks of you. The lust of the eyes is keeping
up with the Joneses. The lust of the eyes is wanting to be popular, wanting
to have the good thoughts and thinking of men. Let me show
you what this does. Turn to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Verse 44. The Lord says, How can you believe
which receive honor one of another and seek not that honor that
cometh from God only? Look in John chapter 12. Verse 42. Nevertheless, among
the chief rulers also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees,
they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the
synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise
of God. What woe is awaiting that person
who is more craving of the approval of men than he is of the approval
of God. What would it profit a man if
he gained the whole world? What would it profit me if everybody
loved me and if I was okay with everybody, but God despised me? What difference would it make
If everybody hated me, if the Lord approved of me. Woe be to that man who's more
concerned about human approval and what men think than what
God thinks. It's called the lust of the eyes. Now look in verse, back to Luke
chapter 11, verse 44. Here's the third woe. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, actors, for you are as graves which appear not. Nobody knows what's inside of
you, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. You're
actors. That's what a hypocrite is. If you have asked a person in
the Greek society that day, who were the movie stars of your
day. They wouldn't have used the word movie stars, they would
have used the word hypocrites, actors. And he says to these
Pharisees, you're actors, you're hypocrites. People walk over
you and have no idea what's on your inside. Men think you're
righteous and beautiful, but God sees something completely
different. I never will forget Brother Mahan
making this statement. Everybody's three different people.
We're the ones we think we are. We're the ones others think we
are. And then we're the ones God knows we are. Now, in Matthew's account, we're
given six things these men were full of. Extortion. He said, you're full of extortion.
You know what that is? Robbery. Robbery. Probably a good percentage of
you have never shoplifted. I hope. I hope. But you've robbed God of glory,
haven't you? You've taken credit where credit's not due. You've
taken credit to yourself when you shouldn't have done it. That's
robbery. Will a man rob God? Absolutely he will. And the next
thing he says in Matthew chapter 23 is excess, no self-control,
want of strength, powerlessness. In all your religiosity, in reality,
you don't have any power at all. You're completely controlled
by what other people think about you. He says you're full of dead
men's bones, spiritual death, all uncleanness, impurity, and
immorality. Now you can write this down.
Whenever somebody is just hammering on this one thing, you better
not be committing this sin. That's what they're doing. You
can just write it down. Anytime you hear a religious
person doing that, that's what's going on. They may seem pure
on the outside, but within they're filled with all uncleanness,
full of hypocrisy. Everything is an act. All the
supposed godliness is an act and insincere and full of iniquity. And the Lord says, Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are as graves which appear
not. And men that walk over them are
not aware of them. They don't know what we really
are. Woe to that man who appears good
on the outside, but has absolutely nothing on the inside. No new
heart, no heart given by God, nothing but uncleanness and excess
and extortion and hypocrisy and iniquity. Now, if you're a believer, you know
that describes your natural heart. All those words describe your
natural heart. And you know you need a new heart. And you cry with David, create
in me a clean heart, oh God. Mine's filthy. I can't make it
clean. Create in me this clean heart,
oh God, and renew a right spirit. within me." This is the pure
heart our Lord spoke of. Blessed are the pure in heart. But these men have nothing like
that. They may appear good on the outside.
People are impressed with them. But the Lord says, woe unto you. Verse 45. Then answered one of
the lawyers, The lawyers were the interpreters of the law.
The Pharisees were the enforcers of the law. They were the ones
that tried to make sure everybody was keeping the law. But the
lawyers, they were the theologians. They were the interpreters of
the law. They were the men with the knowledge and the understanding.
Then answered one of the lawyers and said unto him, Master, thus
saying, thou approachest us also? And he said, woe unto you also,
you lawyers, for you laid men with burdens, grievous to be
born, and you yourself touched not the burdens with one of your
fingers. Now the lawyers love to place
men under the law. Hold your finger there and turn
to Galatians chapter six. Verse 12, as many as desire to
make a fair show in the flesh, and that would be an accurate
description of human religion, a fair show in the flesh. They
constrain you to be circumcised. You need to be circumcised. You
need to keep the law. Only unless they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves
who are circumcised keep the law. They tell you you need to,
but they don't. But they desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh. Look at what a positive influence
I've been on this person. I've really helped them. I've
been an influence in their life for good. I've got them to keep
the law." Paul said, they don't keep the law, they don't do it
at all. Turn to Acts chapter 15. Now
this grievous burden, look in Acts 15, will give us some idea
of what he's talking about. Beginning in verse 5, but there
rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed,
saying that it was needful to circumcise them and to command
them to keep the law of Moses. These Gentile believers, they
need to keep the law. Sure, salvation is about faith,
but they need to keep the law as well. And the apostles and
elders came together for to consider of this matter. And when they
had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men
and brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made choice
among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word
of the gospel and believe. And God which knoweth the hearts,
bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
unto us. And he put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why tempt ye God
to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear. Why would you want to
put that yoke on somebody else when you can't bear it? You've
not stood up under it. And I love what he says next.
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we shall be saved even as they, us Jews, we're going to be saved
just like those Gentile dogs are by grace. I've watched people, and I'm
sure I've done it, tell other people what they need to do when
they themselves are not doing it. You ever done that? It's
called hypocrisy. You and I have been guilty of
having a different standard for ourselves and others. Things
that are glaring faults in others aren't so bad in me, even justifiable. I've got a reason, got a good
reason. While that's wrong as it can be, it's not really what
the Lord is talking about. He's talking about me telling
you to do what you need to do in order to be saved, and I don't
do it. You need to repent of your sin,
and you need to not sin that sin anymore. If you ever sin
that sin anymore, you weren't serious, you weren't being honest
in your repentance. You need to repent of that sin and get
it all out of your life. Now, if you do it again, all
you prove by that is you're insincere. You never really repented. Now,
you hear a preacher get up and talk like that, he's a hypocrite. That's all he is. He's telling
you to do something that he has never, ever done. Now, the Lord says, woe unto
you. that tell people to do what you
yourself in reality have never really done. You put people under
some kind of law and you don't keep the law. You don't touch
it with your little finger. Woe unto you. A man that would say that is telling
you to do what he himself has never done. Now let's go on reading. Here's the fourth woe found in
Luke chapter 11. Verse 47. Woe unto you, for you build the
sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them, and
you build them these beautiful sepulchres. Truly you bear witness
that you allow the deeds of your fathers. You approve of what
your fathers did. You would have done the same
thing. For they indeed killed them, and you build their sepulchres. Therefore also I said the wisdom
of God, I'll send them prophets and apostles, and some of them
they shall slay and persecute, that the blood of all the prophets
which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required
of this generation. from the blood of Abel unto the
blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple.
Verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation. You praise dead prophets, and
you refuse to identify with living ones. That's what you do. You know, it's easy to say, boy,
Calvin, Luther and all those guys, they were great. They were
great prophets. And we identify with them. You praise dead prophets, but
you won't identify, you won't join up with those who live.
You build sepulchers, big, beautiful sepulchers for these dead men
and say, we wouldn't have been this way, but the Lord says,
you allow the deeds of your fathers who killed the prophets. Now,
what this is a reference to more than anything else is the natural
man's despising of the gospel. Now, if you hear a man preach
a message and you want to kill him, you didn't like what they
said, did you? Now, understand this. In the
gospel, there is offense. There is always offense. Now, I'm not advocating us being
offensive. I don't know how many times I've
seen preachers offend people when it wasn't the gospel that
offended them, but it was their boorish behavior. And they're
trying to offend people in order to make themselves look sound. Now, that's not what I'm talking
about. I'm not talking about my offensiveness. But in the
gospel message, there's always an offense to the natural man. Always. And if I preach the message
in such a way as nobody gets mad, nobody's become offended,
I'm not preaching the gospel. Now understand, there's always,
Paul said, if I preach circumcision, why am I yet suffering persecution?
Then has the offense of the cross ceased? Now, the Lord gives two
examples. He uses the example of Abel. Abel's brother killed him. Now
you remember the story. God had respect to Abel and his
offering. God respected what that offering
pointed to, the blood of his son. And the scripture says to
Cain and his offering, he had no respect. He had no regard. Now, after all this took place,
Cain and Abel had a discussion. They spake. Actually, they argued
is what the word means. And I have no doubt that Abel
explained, Cain, the only way we can approach God is through
the sacrifice of the coming Lamb. You and I are evil. We can't
come into God on our own. We can only come through the
blood of the Lamb. Cain said, Blood? I'll show you blood. And
he killed his brother. He was mad at his brother. He
didn't like it that God accepted the one sacrifice of his brother
and didn't accept him. You know, the issue even then
was the blood, wasn't it? The atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then he talked about Zacharias. You can read about
him in 2 Chronicles 24. He said, because you have forsaken
the Lord, he hath forsaken you. You know what they did to him
for that? They stoned him. to hate the only remedy for sin
so much that you murdered the one who brought the message.
Woe, the Lord says, to you. You identify with dead prophets. You even build them sepulchers.
They were great guys. But you won't have anything to
do with living prophets. And then the last one is found
in verse 52. Woe unto you, lawyers, For you've
taken away the key of knowledge. You entered not in yourselves,
and them that were entering in, you hindered. You tried to keep
them from entering in. Now, understand this. I'm not
saved by my knowledge. I'm saved by Christ. Let me repeat that. I'm not saved
by my knowledge. I'm saved by what Christ did
for me. I know that. That is saving knowledge. There's no salvation apart from
knowledge. Now, like I said, I'm not saved
by my knowledge. I know that. I'm saved by Christ. The knowledge we have is that
Christ is all in our salvation. We really believe that, and that's
knowledge we possess and glory in. It's the knowledge that every
believer has. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've
committed to him against that day. Paul said in Romans chapter
10, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be safe. I bear them record. They have
his zeal for God, but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own
righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness
of God. Woe unto you lawyers for you've
taken away the key of knowledge. What's the key of knowledge? Christ said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Christ himself is the key of
knowledge. He's the meaning of every scripture. You might not know its meaning
technically, but you know what its meaning is. You know its
meaning is Christ. He's the key of knowledge. He
is the key of understanding why God can accept a sinner like
me, for Christ's sake. He's the key of knowledge. And He says, woe to you Pharisees,
you've taken away the key of knowledge. And thank God, all
the elect will be saved. We know that, don't we? But woe
be to that man who takes away the key of knowledge, that seeks
to muddy the waters, that seeks to obscure this message. Look
what he says. Woe unto you, lawyers, for you've
taken away the key of knowledge. You entered not in yourself by
the door, by Christ, by the way. You entered not in yourselves.
And them that were entering, you hindered. You tried to stop
them from entering. What a hellish thing to want
to drag down others with you. To not believe the gospel and
want to hinder others in believing the gospel. To not love the way
and to not want others to be on the way. To try to keep them
from the way. What could be more wicked than
that? To hinder those who are coming to Christ. Look in Romans
chapter one. Paul talks about these people
beginning in verse 28. And even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind to do those things which are not convenient. Being filled
with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
full of envy and murder. debate, deceit, malignity, whispers,
backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of
evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant
breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing
the judgment of God that they which commit such things are
worthy of death, not only do the same, but they have pleasure
in them that do them. Not only do they want to do the
same things, they want to lead others down that path. I think Romans chapter 2 verse
1 is one of my favorite scriptures. Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest
another, you condemn yourself, for you that judge do the same
things. Everybody in this room and outside
of this room has been guilty of committing every one of those
sins that Paul speaks of in Romans chapter one. Well, when the Lord
pronounces a woe, woe to that person. You know,
there's no deliverance from his hand. And I want to examine myself
in light of these things. I don't want to hear the Lord
say to me, Todd Nybert, woe unto you. And I know apart from his
grace, that's exactly what I'll hear. Woe to you that leave out what
matters. Woe to you that love human recognition. Woe to you that conceal what
you really are. Woe to you that want to put others
under the law. Woe to you that hate the gospel.
And woe to you that take away the key of knowledge and seek
to hinder those who are coming in. May the Lord deliver us from
these awful, awful woes. Let's pray.