Matthew chapter 23. And I'm taking
the title for the message from the words found in verse 12. But let's read verse 11 and 12
again in Matthew 23. But he that is greatest among
you shall be your servant. You know, Lord Jesus Christ was
the greatest among men. He was God's servant. and whosoever
shall exalt himself shall be abased, made low. And he that
shall humble himself shall be exalted, exalted. So I'm using
the words for the message, the title for the message from verse
12. Those humbled shall be exalted. Those humbled shall be exalted. Someone said of the past, It
was my dear Pastor Mahan who said in the past, the way up
is down. The way up is down. I sent that
TV sermon out on Sunday from 2 Kings 5 about Naaman was told
to go down into Jordan and dip. He went down and he came up clean,
no leprosy. The way up is down. That is total
surrender, total submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
This is the only way of salvation. Surrender. Lay down your shotgun. Put up your sword. Bow and surrender. We read in Psalm 34, the Lord
is nigh them of a broken heart. Save us such as be of a contrite
spirit. He makes us willing in the day
of his power to bow to his Lordship. bow to his lordship. Those who
are recipients of the grace of God, those who have received
salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, are those who have
been stripped of all self-righteousness by the power of the gospel, and
they know that the Lord Jesus Christ is all their salvation.
Those who have been humbled by the grace of God, they know that
Christ is all of their salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
of the righteousness before God. He's made unto us all that we
need, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we're complete in Him. Those who have been stripped
and humbled, put in the dust before God's sovereign throne,
they know that Christ is all and in all, in all things. Now, as we come back to our study
through the book of Matthew, we find the Lord Jesus Christ
still in the temple. This is the last sermon that
he preaches in the temple. These are his last words that
he preaches in the temple, for he marches to Calvary's tree,
and there to die in the room and instead of his people. The
Lord Jesus Christ is giving out the gospel by parables, And now
he speaks to the congregation and his disciples with very stark,
plain language, doesn't he? Very stark, very plain language. The Lord Jesus Christ gave the
parables, those three parables we studied to the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, and the scribes, and all they wanted to do was
falsely accuse him, trap him, and murder him. Look back at
chapter 22, verse 15, when he finished the parable, verse 15,
then went to Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle
him. And then the reference there
is to Matthew 12, verse 14, where it says they went out and held
counsel how they might destroy him. But that doesn't discourage the
Lord from telling the truth, does it? You reckon he's going
to compromise so those Pharisees wouldn't feel so bad? No, he
doubles down, he triples down. He says, woe unto you, woe unto
you, blind guides, fools, hypocrites. Boy, he just lays it bare, doesn't
he? He exposes them for what they
are. We find the Lord still in the temple. Now he's teaching
the multitude and the disciples and warning them about false
religion, about false Judaism. Then spake, verse one, Jesus
to the multitude and to his disciples. Thank God he's still speaking
to his people, to the multitude and to his disciples. He's still
speaking to us through his word. This is his last sermon. This is the last time that he
would be in the temple. And these are his last words
before walking out and leaving these self-righteous Jews to
perish in their sin. Look at verse 37 in Matthew 23,
verse 37. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. He's
looking back through their history of rebellion against God. You've
killed every prophet I've sent to you. You've stoned them, which
I've sent unto you. How often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a mother hen would gather the
little chicks under her wings? But you would not. Your house
is desolate. Those without the Lord Jesus
Christ in their house, they're desolate. Christ in you is the
hope of glory. Many in religious circles today,
are still trying to establish a righteousness of their own
doing, rather than submitting to the righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel. These old Pharisees are dead,
but their religion is alive and well. It's alive and well. They're always going about to
establish a righteousness of their own. Turn to Romans chapter
one. and they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God revealed in the gospel. Now, I must not only have redemption,
my sin removed, but I must have righteousness imputed to me.
Where is that going to be found? It's not my morality. That's
not my righteousness. My morality is filthy ragged
in God's sight. Roman chapter one, verse 16,
for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is a power of God
and the salvation to everyone that believe it. to the Jew first
and also to the Greek, for therein, that is in the gospel, that the
power of God is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Not by law,
but by faith. Turn to Roman chapter four. We're justified freely by his
grace through the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
Roman chapter four, Verse three, what sayeth the scripture? Abraham
believed God and was counted unto him for righteousness. Now
to him that worketh is reward, not reckoning of grace, but of
debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also described the blessedness of the man unto
whom God imputed righteousness without works. Saying, blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is that man whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now that's the blessed man. That's
the blessed man. One more scripture in Romans.
Romans 10, turn over there. The Romans, the book of Romans
tells us how sinners are justified by God's grace. Romans 10, look
at verse one. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is. Same group here. scribes and
Pharisees, Sadducees, for Israel, national people, that they might
be saved. For I bear them record, they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they being
ignorant of God's righteousness, ignorant of who he is, God is
holy, therefore they're going about to establish a righteousness
of their own, and have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. There's two different righteousnesses
there. One's the holy character of God and the other is the righteousness
in the gospel that's revealed, that's imputed to us in Christ. Where Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that what? Believes the gospel. Believes the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, as a servant of the Lord,
I must not only declare the gospel of Christ and that which is true. And I try to do that as best
I know how. And to preach Christ and Him
crucified as all our salvation, to preach salvation of the Lord,
salvation by His grace through Christ and Him crucified. I'm
not only to declare unto you the gospel of Christ and identify
unto you that which is true, but I also must warn you of that
which is false. and contrary to the gospel. Now,
our Lord does this so plainly and so do all the apostles. Turn
back to Matthew 7, we've seen this. Matthew 7. Our Lord said in Matthew 24,
you turn to Matthew 7, let me read you this. For many false
prophets shall arise and shall deceive many. In Matthew 7, this
is the Lord's sermon on the mount. Verse 15, he says, beware of
false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly, they're ravening and devouring wolves. They don't seek the glory of
God. They don't seek your good or
salvation, your salvation. They're wolves in sheep's clothing.
The apostle Paul warned in his day, in Philippians chapter three,
he said, beware of dogs. Not talking about the four-legged
dogs, talking about the two-legged dogs. Beware the concision, the
Pharisees who preached salvation by circumcision. Paul warned
those in his day, and we are to warn in our day. When the
Apostle Paul called the elders together in the church from Ephesus
when he was headed to Rome, his last sermon to them He gave this
warning, take heed that you feed the flock of God, which he purchased
with his own blood. For I know this, that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock. And men shall arise and shall
speak perverse things to draw away disciples after them. So
there is a warning in scripture. There is a warning in scripture
to the Lord. Jesus often warned of false prophets. The Apostle Paul did, repeatedly. And the Apostle Peter said, in
the last days, there shall be false prophets and false teachers.
Beware. And John, in 1 John 4, he said,
try the spirits, whether they be of God, because many false
preachers are sent out into this world. Now, there's just one
true gospel. But there are many counterfeits.
Turn to Galatians chapter one. We had this on the radio program
this morning. Galatians chapter one. Paul here talks about these people
in Galatia being moved to another gospel. Galatians one verse six.
I marvel. I marvel at this. I wonder. I wonder at this, that you're
so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. But there be
some that trouble you would pervert the gospel of Christ, though
we are an angel from heaven, preach any of the gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you. Let him be accursed,
damned again. As we said, verse 9 to 4, so
say I now again, if any man preach any of the gospel unto you, then
that which we, that which you've received, let him be accursed.
Now, what is that gospel? Look back up the page. Galatians
chapter 1 verse 3 grace be unto you and peace from God our father
from our Lord Jesus Christ Who gave himself for our sins that
he might deliver us from this present evil world? According
to the will of God and our father to whom be glory forever and
ever amen So beware of the other gospel How do I know if it's
another gospel? Well, the gospel of God gives
all the glory for salvation unto the Lord Jesus Christ alone. God forbid, which he glory save
in Christ, in the Lord Jesus Christ, the cross of Christ alone.
My pastor always said this, Brother Mahan, the Lord hedges his people
about in his word with warnings, lest we presume and promises
lest we despair. Now, all through the word of
God, there's warnings, lest we presume, and then there's those
seeding great precious promises that God gives us. The Lord Jesus
Christ pulls the mask off false religion and hammers it and slams
it for what it is. He really gets real brutally
honest, doesn't he? Now, I was raised in false religion.
I know what it is. I know it when I see it. I can
smell it. I was raised in false religion,
religion of works, religion that taught salvation dependent upon
what you did or did not do. I know what it is. I know about
it. I cut my teeth on works religion.
The psalmist said, through thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate every false way. I hate it, I hate it. If you do not hate that which
is contrary to the gospel, if you do not hate that which is
false, it's because you do not love that which is true. Now
think about it. Our Lord said you shall know
the truth and the truth will set you free. Now in verses 2
down through verse 10 in our text, the Lord gives us marks
and traits of false religion, which the Lord plainly exposes. He gives us the characteristic
and the traits of Phariseeism, salvation that depends upon the
creature rather than salvation that depends upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. Our Lord said, of these same
people in Luke 16, you are they that justify yourselves before
men, but God knows your heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Verse 2 and verse 6, and I'm
going to work down through this very rapidly. The scribes and
the Pharisees, they sit in Moses' seat. Now that's a pretty high
place. Verse six it says, and they love
the uppermost rooms at the feast and the chief seat in the synagogue. So what are they doing? They're
promoting themselves. They're setting themselves up
to be somebody. And the Lord exposes them for
what they are. False prophets are always about
promoting themselves rather than pointing sinners to the Lord
Jesus Christ. God's preachers that are sent
of God, they point you to Christ. The Lord, don't look at me. You
look at him. Our Lord said, look unto me and
be ye saved. And Paul writes, looking unto
the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the author and finisher of our
faith, we preach not ourselves, but the Lord Jesus Christ and
ourselves, your servants, for his sake. Looking unto the Lord
Jesus Christ. Always looking, always coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach Christ. in whom him
crucified, and were determined to do so. Look at verse three,
all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that is, if
they give you the word of the law, they bid you observe, that
observe and do, but do not after their works, for they say and
they don't. Their sayings and their doings
were two different things. Their teaching did not match
their practice. They wanted their followers to
sacrifice much, but they were not willing to do so. Look at
verse 14 and 15 in this chapter. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses, and for pretense you
make long prayer, therefore you shall receive the greater Damnation
warned you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass sea
and land to make one proselyte. And when you made him, you make
him twofold more the child of hell than yourself. Sad, isn't
it? Look at verse four. They imposed
heavy burdens upon others with rules and regulations, do's and
don'ts. but they will not conform to their own rules, for they
bind heavy burden, grievous to be born, and lay on men's shoulders,
but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. Remember what our Lord said,
all you who are laboring and heavy laden, come unto me and
rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and you shall
find rest, rest for your soul, rest for your soul. Come unto
me and rest. If you don't conform to the rules
and regulations of the certain religious Pharisees in that day
and this day, if you don't conform to the rules and regulations,
they'll kick you out of their kingdom, or they will communicate
you with much zeal from their church. I know this by experience. It happened to me when the Lord
revealed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to me. I wanted
nothing to do with the false religion that I was raised in.
Mormonism. You ever heard of it? Run from
it. Run from it. If they knock on
your door, slam it in their face. Don't have anything to do with
it. Because it's false. They don't have any truth. A
prophet like sea and land to make make one convert, and when
they do, they made him twofold more the child of hell than themselves. Now I'm not being mean, I'm not
being harsh, I'm just being truthful. Salvation of the Lord and salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 5, all their work
they do to be seen of men, they put on a big show. They put on
a really big show. They make broad their phylacteries
and enlarge the borders of their garments. Look that word up,
phylacteries. And what these old Jews would
do, they would take pieces of cloth and they would write scripture
verses on these pieces of cloth called phylacteries and they
would walk down the street with all these pieces of cloth with
scripture hanging on it, walking down the street to show how holy
and pious they are before men. Look at me. And then they enlarge
the borders of the garments to put more blue and different things
at the borders of the garments to show how self-righteous they
are. They put on a big show. They do the things they do to
be seen of men. And we see this going on in our
day in religious circles, don't we? The Lord exposes them about
their giving in Matthew chapter 6. He said they give just to
be seen of men. The Lord again talks about these
men who fast to be seen of men. They always have a very strict
code or very strict dress code, certain garments to be worn,
certain things to be done, certain clothing to be worn. In our day,
people who are very religious and lost, they wear Buttons,
religious buttons or religious slogans on their clothes, don't
they? I used to work out in these different
places I'd go and steel mills and coal mines and different
places I'd go and people would wear them hard hats and a lot
of times they would have religious sayings on their hard hats. Do
they still do that today with their hard hats? Put religious
slogans on their hard hat? I remember one, and I knew this
man who did this and he had one big slogan on his hard hat. He said, try Jesus. Just try
him out, see if he fits. Not bow to him as Lord, just
try him out. We see this in our day, don't
we? With buttons and bows and different things and different
stickers. Or they have a display on their bumper. Have bumper
stickers, don't they? We still see that in our day.
Why do they do that? They do these things to be seen
of men. eight, nine, and ten. They love
special recognition, greetings in the marketplace. They love
to be called rabbi, rabbi, teacher, master. But be not you called
rabbi, for one is your master. Even Christ and all you are brethren. We're brothers in Christ. Don't
call me Master of Divinity or Reverend Tom. Don't call me that.
Just call me old Tom. Tom Tom will do. But you're not
called Rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and you're
all brethren. Call no man your father. Certainly don't call
no man Holy Father. The Pope, they call him Holy
Father. That's an abomination before
God. For one is your father. There's just one God, there's
just one Lord, there's just one Father. Our Father which art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. There's just one Father, neither
be you called master, for one is your master. He repeats this.
Christ is our master, Christ is our Lord. If he's not your
Lord, your God, he's not your Savior. If he's not your Lord,
he's not your Savior. That's right. Well, Rothbard
came years ago, Ashland, Kentucky, preaching the Lordship of Christ.
They'd never heard anything like that, that he'll have mercy on
whom he will. And he preached the Lordship.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ that saves sinners on purpose. So he pulls the mask off of false
religion. He gives us the marks. a false
religion, then he gives us the mark and evidence of being a
true believer in verse 11 and 12. But he that is greatest among
you shall be your servant. You want to be great in the kingdom
of God? Be a servant. Be a lowly, humble servant of
the Lord. In Isaiah 42 verse 1, God said,
Behold my servant, my elect, and whom my soul delighted. Talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice the references given
there in Matthew 20. Turn back over to Matthew 20.
Remember Matthew 20 in our lesson here, Matthew chapter 20? Look at verse 25, Matthew 20
verse 25. But Jesus called them unto him
and said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion
over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon
them. But it shall not be so among
you, but whosoever shall be great among you, let him be your minister,
servant. and whosoever will be chief among
you, let him be your servant. For even as the son of man, you
got it? Verse 28, Matthew 20, came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life
for ransom for many. He was God's servant doing God's
business, accomplishing God's work of salvation for us. True greatness in the kingdom
of God is to serve one another out of love. Motivated not by
law, motivated not by bigger rewards, Christ is our reward. The grand motive for service
to the Lord's people is love. That's how we serve him, by serving
one another. It's the love of Christ that
constrains us. John 13 says, a new commandment
I give you that you love one another. As I've loved you, see
that you love one another. By this shall all men know that
you're my disciples, that you love one another. We're to esteem
one another better than ourselves. We're all sinners saved by the
grace of God. We're all brothers and sisters
in Christ. There's no big I or little you. We're all one together in Christ. We're all members one of another.
We're in the body of Christ. Verse 12, in closing. Whosoever
shall exalt himself is going to be brought down in that
day of judgment. Lord, we preached in your name.
Lord, we've done many wonderful works in your name. Lord, we've
done all these things. And he says, depart from me. I never knew you, you workers
of iniquity. And those that are humbled. shall be exalted in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I repeat what I said earlier.
The Lord is nigh unto them of a broken heart. Save as such
as be of a contrite spirit. The way up is down. Those who
are humbled by the true gospel shall be exalted in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Go back to the reference there
in Luke 18. Don't need to turn. Let me just
remind you the Pharisee bragged on himself and went home condemned. The publican condemned himself
and went home justified. Justified. Justified in Christ. Being justified freely by his
grace through the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
let me give you four things. I've got a few minutes here.
Let me give you four things. True religion arises from the
right knowledge of who God our Savior truly is. This is eternal
life, that they might know thee the only true God, Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. True religion True salvation
arises from a right knowledge of who God our Savior truly is. Secondly, true religion, true
salvation arises from a right knowledge of who we are. Who
we are. Sinners. Sinners. And Adam all
died. And Adam all sinned. True religion
arises from a right knowledge of who we are. We've all sinned
to come short of the glory of God. Thirdly, true religion,
salvation, arises from a well-grounded hope in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone and what he has done for us, not what we have done for
him. not what we've done for him.
We have a good hope through our Lord Jesus Christ. We say with
the Apostle Paul, as he sits in a Roman prison cell, sitting
on death row, waiting to be executed, and he writes back to young Timothy,
he said, don't be ashamed of me or the gospel, because it's
God who saved us, God who called us with a holy calling, not according
to our work, but according to his own purpose and grace, given
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Lastly, True salvation,
true religion produces in us a principle of submission to the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
not going about to establish our own righteousness, but we
have submitted ourselves unto the righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel. We don't make him Lord, we bow
and submit to his Lordship. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. We
don't make him Lord, God did that, but we willingly bow to
his sovereign Lordship. As Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded he's able, able to save to the uttermost,
able to keep us from falling, able to make us new creatures
in Christ. I know whom I have believed. I know whom I have
believed. He is God our Savior, and I'm
persuaded he's able to do all that he promised he's able to
keep. He's able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. We've committed all of our salvation. All of our hope of salvation,
all of our righteousness before God, we've committed it all to
the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord, our righteousness
before God. He is God our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ.