If you turn back to Luke chapter
11, I've entitled this message, Human Religion. Now, when I give
a message a title like that, don't think so much about those
people out there that practice this. Think about right here. You see, we've been all guilty. of practicing this thing of human
religion. And I hope that the Lord gives
us the grace that we can see what it is and repent of it ourselves. Human religion. Now in this passage
of scripture that I just read from Luke 11, we are given a
portrait of human religion. Human religion is not saving
religion. If this is the only religion
I know, I will not be saved. Now in Matthew's account of this,
I think perhaps the same message, it could have been spoken on
two different occasions, but the Lord said the same thing.
And you know, the Lord did that quite often. And that makes me
feel a little bit better when I'm repetitive. I don't want
to be repetitive in a bad way. Sometimes I am. I realize that. And forgive me of that. And next
time you try to preach 5,000 different sermons, see if it
doesn't happen to you. Repetition is, I want to always
be fresh. I don't want to be repetitive,
but the Lord repeated himself. And I believe Matthew chapter
23 and Luke chapter 11 are two different occasions When the
Lord said the same thing, because in Matthew chapter 23, it was
the sermon right before he was arrested. I think it was the
sermon that caused people to say, we're putting him to death.
We're not going to listen to this anymore. But he said these
same things on an earlier occasion. And in Matthew's account, the
Lord said this with regard to this religion in his conclusion.
He said to these people, you serpents. What if I did that? I couldn't do it really because
I'm one of you, but the Lord could, I'm the servant. But this
is the way he concluded this message to these people he was
speaking to. He said, you serpents, you generation
of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? Now that's
strong language, isn't it? And that's the way our Lord addressed
human religion. And in this passage of scripture,
we're going to look at, we're going to go back into it next week.
Also, he pronounces six woes upon these people. Now, if the
Lord says, woe to you, woe to that man, woe be unto
you. Everybody in this room, beginning
here, has been guilty of practicing this religion. Every one of us
by nature are Pharisees. That's our natural way of thinking.
The Pharisee isn't a person out there. The Pharisee is the man
within. The word Pharisee means a separated
one. Now, the religion of the Pharisee
was not just back in the New Testament days. It's not one
of the seven major religions of the world. It is the major
religion of the world. All men are by nature Pharisees. They believe that something they
do separates them from somebody else. That's all you got to do
to be a Pharisee. You believe that something that
you've done separates you from somebody else. Just like that
Pharisee in the temple. Lord, I thank thee that I'm not
as other men are. And what do you go on to say?
I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not
even as this publican. Something that he did, he believed,
separated him from everybody else. As a matter of fact, parable,
if that's what it is of a Pharisee and the publican gives the two
representative men, the Pharisee and the publican, the believer
who cries out nothing, but God be merciful to me, the sinner. Now this Pharisee was listening
to the Lord teach verse 37. And as he spake a certain Pharisee
besought him to dine with him. And he went in, and sat down
to meet. The Lord accepted his invitation
and came over to his house for dinner. Let me make a couple
of comments. If your intimate friends are
unbelievers, you are wrong in making them your intimate friends.
They will always drag you down. Evil communications, the scripture
says, corrupt good manners and your way of thinking imperceptibly
will be changed. You'll start thinking like them.
You'll start doing like them. A believer should not make as
their intimate friends, those who do not love Christ, those
who have no love for God, those who do not believe the gospel.
Now, does that mean if somebody says, come over to my house to
dinner, you say, no, I will be defiled by being around you.
No, we actually are excited if an unbeliever would want us to
come over to dinner because we would want to be preaching the
gospel to them as the Lord enables us. We would look at that as
an opportunity. Oh Lord, enable me to preach
the gospel to them. And the Lord accepted this man's
invitation. He didn't say, no, I'm not going
to hang out with the likes of you. Ruined my testimony. No, he accepted his invitation
and he came to his home to eat. Verse 38, And when the Pharisee
saw it, he marveled that he'd not first washed before dinner. Now, this has nothing to do with
personal hygiene. This has nothing to do with washing
your hands to get rid of germs. They didn't even know that worked
back then. They didn't have microscopes
the way we have. They didn't know about this invisible
world. And this has absolutely nothing
to do with personal hygiene. Now, I don't know how many times
Lynn is marveling at me when I eat with unwashing hands. I
mean, how many times have you asked me if you washed your hands?
Particularly if I put my hand in a bag of chips or Cheez-Its
or something like that. And she's thinking, if you wash
your hands, well, I ought to. It's a good practice. But understand
this has absolutely nothing to do with personal hygiene. Literally,
he saw he was washed with unbaptized hands, hands that had not been
ceremonially cleansed. You see, under the Old Testament
law, if you came into contact with something that was unclean,
You were unclean. If you came into contact with
someone else who had come into contact with something that was
unclean, maybe an unclean animal or a woman who was at that time
in the month, or if somebody had touched something dead that
made you unclean and you weren't allowed to participate in the
worship of God. And so the Pharisees had made
all kinds of new rules concerning this thing of cleansing. As a
matter of fact, Mark chapter seven will make us understand
the issue here. Mark chapter seven, would you
turn with me there? Then came together unto him,
the Pharisees and certain of the scribes, which came from
Jerusalem, the Interpreters, the scribes and the enforcers,
the Pharisees of the law. That's what they were. They were
the interpreters and the enforcers of the law. And when they say,
when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that
is to say, unwashing or unbaptized hands, they had not been ceremonially
cleansed. They found fault. Same thing that was going on
in our text. For the Pharisees, now Mark gives us an account
of what was going on. For the Pharisees and all the
Jews, except they washed their hands oft, eat not, holding the
tradition of the elders. Now notice, it doesn't say they
held what the scriptures taught concerning cleansing. They made
all kinds of new rules. the tradition of the elders,
not what the scripture taught. They came up with new rules called
the tradition of the elders. And how many traditions are there
in religion that just aren't found in scripture? Thousands,
thousands, man-made traditions. Verse four, And when they come
from the market, except they wash, they eat not, and many
other things there be which they have received to hold. As the
washing of cups and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables, they
came up with all kinds of new rules regarding this thing of
washing and cleansing. These were not found in the scriptures,
but they looked at them as equal to the scriptures, the tradition
of the scribes and the Pharisees. Verse five, then the Pharisees
and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to
the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashing
hands? I love the way the Lord answered
him. He answered and said unto them, well, hath Isaiah prophesied
of you hypocrites? As it's written, this people
honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. How be it in vain do they worship
me, teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men, not the
commandments of scripture, but man-made commandments concerning
washing. Verse eight, for laying aside
the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men as the washing
of pots and cups and many other such things like you do. And
he saith unto them, full well, you reject the commandment of
God that you may keep your own tradition. Now he gives an example. For Moses said, honor thy father
and thy mother. And whoso curses father or mother,
let him die the death. But you say, if a man shall say
to his father or mother, it is Corbin, that is to say a gift
by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free. He's not obligated to help his
parents. And you suffer him no more to
do aught for his father or his mother, making the word of God
of none effect through your tradition, which you delivered and many
such things like you do." Now here's what they did. Honor your father and mother.
That also means to help them when they're old. Take care of
them. Now, what the Pharisees had done,
they said, Corbin, this money is earmarked to go to the temple
after my death. This money is willed to be used
for the worship of God. Sorry, mom and dad, can't help
you. This money is to be used for
something else. And they completely neglected
the commandment of God by their tradition. Corbin, this money
is earmarked for the use of God. I can't use it to help you. And the Lord said, thus by your
tradition, you've nullified, you've made void the commandment
of God. I'm free from having to support
you. Verse 12, you suffer no more to do aught for his father
or his mother, making the word of God of none effect through
your tradition, which you've delivered, and many such things
like you do. And when he called all the people
unto him, he said unto them, hearken unto me, every one of
you, and understand, there is nothing from without a man, that
entering into him can defile him, can make him unclean. But
the things which come out of him, those are they that defile
the man, the sin that comes from the heart. If any man have ears
to hear, let him hear. And when he was entered into
the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning
this parable, and he said unto them, Are you so without understanding
also? Do you not perceive that whatsoever
thing from without enters into the man, it can't defile him?
Because it enters not into his heart, but into his belly, and
goes out in the draught, purging all meats. And he said, that
which cometh out of the man, that defiles the man. For from
within. Out of the heart of man proceed
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness,
wickedness, deceit, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness, and all these evil things come from within, and
they defile the man. Now, the Pharisees thought, if
I'm ceremonially cleansed, I'm clean. And the Lord said, no,
sin comes from the heart. Now let's go back to our text
in Luke chapter 11. The Lord says in 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, plundering, robbery, and it's full of wickedness. Now picture in your mind what
the Lord is saying. Think of a cup, clean on the outside,
and filthy on the inside. Do you want to drink out of that
cup? No. This represents human religion.
The emphasis is on the outside, how you appear to men and not
on the inside, how you appear to God. Turn to Matthew's account,
Matthew chapter 23, verse 25. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you make clean the outside of the cup and of
the platter, but within you're full of extortion. and excess. You look good on
the outside, but that's not what your inside is, thou blind Pharisee. Cleanse first that which is within
the cup and the platter, that the outside of them may be clean
also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you're
like whited sepulchers, beautiful graves, which indeed appear beautiful
outward What men see, but within you're 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. Now, one of the things that really
hits me about that is when the Lord describes man's religion,
human religion, never be impressed with men's religion. Don't be
intimidated by their show of righteousness, their show of
holiness. Underneath it all, it's nothing but dead men's bones,
full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Now go back to Luke 11. 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. Now a religion on the outside
is a religion for fools. It's Not the outside that counts. Oh, it's important. It's important.
Don't get me wrong. It's important that God looks
on the heart. He doesn't just look on the outward conduct.
Now, if God's done something for my heart, it's going to affect
my outward conduct. Don't get me wrong. It really
will. But God looks on the heart. Man looks on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks on the heart. And in Matthew's account, the
Lord said, first cleanse that which is within, that that which
is without may be cleansed also. Now, here's my big question. Here's the question I want to
try to deal with. How can I be cleansed within? I can't clean myself. I know that. Have you ever tried to, I've
done this before, when you take a dish rag that's been in the
dirty water and you try to wipe off the table and all it does
is smear because it's not clean. It doesn't do any good. It can't
really cleanse because it's already dirty. So I can't cleanse myself. How can my inside be cleansed? That's what I want to know. How
can I be cleansed? How can my heart be cleansed
before God? Because we're called upon to
cleanse first that which is on the inside and then the outside
will be cleaned. How can I cleanse that which
is on the inside? Well, first of all, I can't until
I am first cleansed. Only when He cleanses me can
I cleanse myself. And we're going to see what the
scripture has to say about that. But first of all, how can I be
cleansed? How can I be cleansed? Well,
here's what has to happen first. The Lord Jesus Christ has to
will my cleansing. Do you remember when that leper
came to Christ and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. And I come the same way, Lord,
I can't make myself clean. You can, if you will, you can
make me clean. Can you pray that right now?
Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. Do you believe that his will
is sufficient? If he wills your cleansing because
of who he is, the sovereign God of the universe, you will be
cleaned. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. Now, the second way that a believer
is cleansed is by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood,
1 John 1 7, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth
us from all sin. I love that scripture in Hebrews
1 3, when he had It doesn't just say purged our
sins or cleansed our sins or made purification for our sins.
It doesn't just say when he had purged our sins. It says when
he had by himself. I love that addition, don't you?
When he had by himself. That means he did it without
any help from me. It was not a cooperative effort
between me and him. He did it by himself. And the only way I can be cleansed
is if He by Himself purges me, cleanses me of my sins through
the blood. You see, that's what the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ does. It washes away, it purges, it
cleanses sin to where they're no more. They're washed away,
they're gone. The way I can be cleansed, first
of all, is by Christ willing it, and secondly, by Christ dying
for me. You know what? I love Christ's
effectual redemption for the elect. And the reason I love
it is because I know the only hope I have is that Christ died
for me. And if you tell me he can die
for somebody and they wind up in hell anyway, you've taken
away the only hope I have. That's why I love the successful
effectual redemption of Christ for his elect. It means if he
died for you, you're clean. You're cleansed. You've been
saved by his grace. The third thing that cleanses
us is this, cleansed by the word. And the Lord put it this way,
now are you clean through the word that I have spoken unto
you. Now notice the language, it's
very important. If the only thing you hear is
my word, there's gonna be no cleansing. There's gonna be nothing. But he didn't say anything but
this, now are you clean through the word that I have spoken unto
you. Oh, when Christ preaches the
gospel to us. We hear and we are cleansed. Now are you clean? You know,
there's nothing as cleansing as hearing the gospel when he
gives you hearing ears. There's nothing like that in
this life. You are clean. You know you've been cleansed
in the blood of Christ. You're clean before God through
what the Lord Jesus Christ did. And you believe that. You know
it's so when he speaks the word to you. That's the work of God
the Holy Now are you clean through the word that I've spoken unto
you. Husbands love your wives as Christ
loved the church and gave himself for it that he might cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word. Now there will be
no cleansing of yourself until you're first cleansed. You know
that so don't you? He's got to will it. He's got
to do it by himself with no help from me. And then he's got to
apply it to my heart by preaching the gospel to me to where I'm
clean through the word that he spoke to me. Now, when that happens,
you've got something called hope. Hope. I have a hope that when
I stand before God in judgment, I will be clean. Clean. Pure. Without sin. And you know what John says regarding
that hope? He says in 1 John chapter 3 verse 3, Every man
that hath this hope in him purifieth himself. Cleanseth himself. even as he is pure. Now, how do we go about this
thing of cleansing ourselves? Well, here is where we begin
in our experience. If we confess our sin, this has nothing about confession
to each other. This is confession of sin before
God. This is being honest before God. If we confess our sin, He is
faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us. from all unrighteousness. There is no cleansing of ourselves
apart from this thing of the confession of sin. And I don't
even know what all to say about the confession of sin, because
how many times have you confessed your sin going through the motions?
You didn't really even admit, but we confess our sin. We admit
our sin and so on. But that's not the confession
of sin. The confession of sin is taking sides with God against
ourselves. Everything He says is right,
we're wrong. We confess our sin before Him. No more self-vindication, no
more self-justification. We come before Him and we take
sides with Him against ourselves. Now, if we confess our sins,
What's more cleansing in your time? I'm asking every believer.
You've experienced this one. The Lord gives you the grace
to confess your sins. You know, was it in the study
or here that Psalm 32 was read? Was it in here? Okay, okay. David
said, when I kept silence, and what he's talking about is not
confessing his sin. He's talking about that sin with
Bathsheba. He said, when I kept silence, My bones racked, waxed
old through my roaring. Thy hand pressed heavy upon me. But oh, when he confessed before
God what cleansing there was. Now, this goes along with confession. This is found in James chapter
four, verse eight. James says, cleanse your hands,
ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted
and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God
that he may exalt you in due time. Now, how do I cleanse my
hands? by humbling myself, not simply
being humiliated. I don't want to be humiliated,
but I do want to humble myself to take the lowest place in the
house, believing that's where I belong. taking my place with
the public and God be merciful to me, the sinner. And our Lord said in the conclusion
of that, everyone that exalts himself like the Pharisee, Lord,
I thank thee that I'm not as other men are, shall be abased.
And he that humbles himself like this publican shall be exalted. How do I cleanse myself? by humbling
myself before God. Oh Lord, give me the grace to
do that. Cause me to confess my sin before you and cause me
to humble myself under your mighty hand. How do you cleanse yourself?
Well, Hebrews 9.14, I love this. It says, purge your conscience. Cleanse your conscience from
dead works. I've heard people say, I always
try to maintain a good conscience. Well, I reckon we ought to do
that, but I tell you what, I don't know what it means. I've never
felt, I don't have anything to feel guilty about. I've always
got something to feel guilty about. Always something that's
pressing me down. So this is not talking about,
I'm trying to maintain a conscience to where I never feel guilty
about anything. Well, you know, I'd like to be that way, but
that's really has nothing to do with what that scripture means.
When it says, purge your conscience of dead works, Any work you've
done before God gave you life was nothing more than a dead
work. If you believe salvation came
through the effort of your free will cooperating with God's grace,
that is a dead work. Purge, cleanse your conscience
from anything other than but what Christ has done. Purge your
conscience from dead works. You know, one of the ways you'll
feel clean and be clean, one of the ways you'll clean yourself,
if you just forget all your works and look to His work. There's
nothing as cleansing. There's nothing as purifying
as that. Just your works, they're no good!
They're dead! Purge your conscience of those
dead works to serve the Living God. How do I cleanse myself? Well,
Acts chapter 15 verse 9 says purifying or cleansing your heart
by faith. There's nothing that cleanses
you or me like simply trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing like it. To be enabled
by the grace of God to trust Him. To believe His gospel and
know that nothing else is needed. And we have the promises of God
to encourage us in this. Having therefore these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear
of God. Having these promises. These
promises, sin shall not have dominion over you. For you're
not under law, but under grace. I'm gonna use that promise. As
he enables me, Lord, let no iniquity have dominion
over me because you promised I'm not under the law, but I'm
under grace. Back to Luke chapter 11, maybe
you're already there. What does he mean by this? He
says, you fools did not he that made that which is out would
make that which within also, but rather verse 41, but rather
give alms of such things as you have and behold, all things are
clean unto you. Now remember that word Corbin
from Mark chapter seven, what the Lord is talking about is
we've earmarked this money to give to God after we die. Therefore we can't give it now. Sorry, mom and dad. He said,
give alms of such things as you have now. Right now. Don't wait till things are different. Give alms of such things as you
have now. And then he says, all things
are clean unto you. All this stuff you're doing to
cleanse yourself with all these washings, they don't even count. That stuff's been done away with.
All things are clean to you. You don't have to worry about
these washings and these ceremonial cleansings. All things are clean
to you. You're not going to get defiled by it. That's not what
defiles a man. Now, what I see in this is the religion of the
Pharisee, which is, like I said, our natural religion. It's all
based upon intentions. This is what I'm going to do.
I'm going to use this tomorrow. Tomorrow, this is going to be
used for the glory of God. Or it's based upon something
I've done. Well, I've cleansed myself. I've
done whatever it takes to make me ceremonially clean. I'm OK. It's talking about tomorrow,
what you intend to do or what you did do or what you experienced
in the past. Now, understand this. The religion
of the gospel is always in the present. Who am I looking to right now? We are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence. What was the beginning
of your confidence? Now I know what the beginning
of my confidence was and is. The first time I ever had any
confidence at all that God, I had His favor, was when I heard that
everything He required of me, He looked to His Son for. And
you know, that's the first time I ever had confidence. If that's
what it is, I have confidence. If all that God requires of me,
he looks to his blessed son for every bit of it. If that's the
case, I have confidence. Now that's the beginning of my
confidence. And you know what? It hadn't changed a bit. We're
made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast unto the end. May God deliver us from human
religion, a religion of outward appearance, a religion of intention
for the future, and a religion of reliance upon works or experiences
of the past. Now that is human religion, and
that's the religion you and I will practice if the Lord doesn't
deliver us from it, and I'm, Lord, deliver me from that. and make me a true disciple of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.