Matthew chapter 15 and I'm taking
the title for our message this morning from verse 8 and verse
9 Our Lord says of these self-righteous Pharisees that these people draw
an eye unto me with their mouth and They honor me with their
lips they speak certain words, but the problem is the Lord knows
the heart and but their heart is far, far away, far from me. But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, teaching for doctrines
the commandments of men. So the title of the message is
going to be Heart Worship or Vain Worship, Heart Worship or
vain worship. Vain worship is empty worship. Vain worship is idolatry. That's what it is. That is, we
only truly worship, believe, and honor and esteem the true
and living God as we see Him revealed in the Word of Truth,
and only worship Him and approach Him upon the blood, sacrifice,
and atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the righteousness
of God that's revealed in the gospel, through the righteousness
of God established in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He is all
our righteousness before God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed
is that man to whom the Lord imputes righteousness without
work, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
whose sins are covered, Blessed is that man to whom the Lord
will not impute sin. You see, without faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, it's impossible to worship God. Without faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is impossible to worship God.
Without faith, it is impossible. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is, and that He is rewarder of them who diligently seek Him. Without faith, it's impossible.
Without faith, we cannot worship God. Without faith, we cannot
come to Him. The scriptures declare unto us that the Lord Jesus Christ
seeks those to worship Him in spirit and in truth. There can
be no true worship apart from the truth of the gospel revealed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember John chapter four, God
is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth. You can have all the religious
excitement you want, but apart from the truth of the gospel,
there's no true worship in Christ. There's no true worship apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there's a vast, vast, tremendous
difference between false worship useless religion, the traditions
of man, and the true gospel, and the true salvation that's
revealed in Christ. There's a vast difference between
darkness and light, life and death. There's a vast difference
between useless religion, vain traditions of men, and the true
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, as it's seen and made known,
only in Christ, and it's made known by this one simple fact,
who gets the glory. Who gets the glory? That's the
defining factor in what is preached, who gets the glory in the salvation
of sinners. or you, the center, you, or God
alone. Paul said, God forbid I should
glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord exposes
false religion for what it is. In verse nine, vain, vain, empty,
dead, useless religion. Hold your place there and bookmark
that and turn to another scripture found over here in Luke 16. You
remember this scripture in Luke 16? The Pharisees, we're gonna see
this conflict between the Pharisees and the Lord all the way through
our study in Matthew. In Luke 16, verse 14, the Pharisees
also who were covetous heard all these things and derided
him. And he said to them, you are they would justify yourself
before men, but God knows your heart. God knows your hearts. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. God knows our
heart. God knows our heart. Vain, empty
worship is like religion with no salvation. Vain, empty
worship and religion is like salvation is religion, like having
religion with no salvation, no gospel, no good news. It's like
a well without water. It's like a stove without a fire. It's like a world with no light,
a bow with no arrow, a gun with no ammunition. It's like a body
with no life, dead. and useless. Religion without
Christ is vain and empty. Religion without the grace of
God revealed in Christ is vain, dead, and empty. Now look at
verse 1 down to verse 9, and the Lord has a word for those
Pharisees. In verse 1 down to verse 9, Then
came to Jesus the scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem,
They traveled all the way from the center of their religious
office all the way up to the north country of Galilee saying,
why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders for
they wash not their hands when they eat? Now we've seen something
similar to that before. If you remember, turn back over
here to Matthew chapter 12. You remember before, the Pharisees
spied out the disciples of the Lord. In Matthew chapter 12,
at that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn,
and His disciples were hungered, and they began to pluck the ears
of corn and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they
said to them, behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to
do upon the Sabbath day. So not only were they concerned
about eating with dirty hands, but picking corn on a certain
day, always finding fault and to criticize. Why do thy disciples
transgress the tradition of the elders, for they wash not their
hands? Now, these Pharisees, we know,
We know who they are. Scripture describes those who
they are, the self-righteous, who trusted in themselves that
they were righteous, and therefore they despised other men. We read
in Romans chapter 10, when Paul describes them, he said, they
have a zeal of 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 unto
the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. So these Pharisees
were the very self-serving, self-righteous people who despised everyone
else. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
going about the Father's business, preaching the gospel, healing
the sick, and these people always viciously attacked Him. If you
look in this same chapter, Matthew 15, Look at verse 30. The Lord Jesus Christ called
the multitude unto him, having with them those that were lame,
blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at
Jesus' feet, and he healed them. He went about doing good. He
went about healing and preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and then these Pharisees, all they do is pick, criticize,
and attack the Lord Jesus Christ. Their attack was based upon the
disciples not washing their hands before they had a meal, violating
the tradition of the elders. They weren't violating the law
of God. Look at verse 3, Matthew 15 verse
3. Now what's the Lord going to
do? He said, why do you transgress the commandment of God? Now he
wasn't worried about their traditions. He pointed them to the commandment
of God. He says, you have broken the
law of God. You've transgressed the commandment
of God by your traditions. You are the ones that have broken
the law of God. The Lord turned the table on
the self-righteous, and he rightly charged them with being guilty
before God by not obeying the holy law of God. He said, you
are a transgressor of the law. That's every one of us. That's
every one of us. We're all guilty. The law says,
the law of God says you're guilty. That's what the law of God was
given to do. It reveals to us that we are
sinners. No one can keep the holy law
of God. Cursed is everyone that continues
not in all things, but are written in the book of the law to do
them. The law of God says this, stop your mouth, you're guilty.
You're guilty before God. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. For by the law, no man is justified
before God. We're only justified by faith,
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. We are, like the Pharisees,
we are all by nature, we transgress, we've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Is that right? Does that describe
you? We are sinners, aren't we? But
you know the good news of the gospel is salvation for sinners.
Salvation for sinners. Look what it says in verse four.
For God commanded, saying, and here's the commands of God. God
commanded, saying, honor thy father and thy mother, and he
that curses father or mother, let him be killed. Now that's
the strict, rigid rule of the law. But you say, Whosoever shall
say to his father or his mother, it's a gift, but whatsoever thou
mightest be profited by me and honoreth not his father or his
mother, he shall be free, free from the obligation of taking
care of your parents. Thus you've made the commandment
of God of not effect by your tradition, your tradition. Now what's this all about? The
law of God in that day, It was given. It was given of God, and
one of the Ten Commandments was to honor thy father and thy mother. When your parents got old in
that day, they didn't have the social programs that we have,
but it's even true today. We should honor our father and
our mother, and we should take care of them. The law of God
commanded that, but the Pharisees revised it to give them a way
to change the law of God to their advantage. They invented a method
and a scheme of excusing men from their responsibility. Instead of caring for their parents
in old age, they could say, I'm giving my support to the temple,
and I'm giving my money to the religious Pharisees, therefore
I'm exempt from that law. You see what the Pharisees were
doing? They were manufacturing a law to their advantage, saying,
well, you don't need to take care of your parents when they're
old. Just say what you've set aside to take care of your parents
in their old age, that you're giving it to the temple, and
then you're exempt. See, they changed the law of
God. They changed the Word of God. And then he says in verse
6, and honoreth not your father or your mother, You think you're
free from that? He said, you've made the commandment
of God of non-effect by your tradition. You've made the explicit
word of God to mean nothing, to be of no effect by your religious
interpretation and tradition rather than the truth of God. Look at verse 7. The Lord reveals
a true problem by using the word of God to expose them as religious
hypocrites. You see verse 7? You're a hypocrite. You say that you honor God, but
you don't believe his word. A hypocrite is someone who is
acting out something when he's not really that person. He's play acting. You hypocrites.
Well did Isaiah prophesied of you saying, this people draw
nigh to me with their mouth. They honor me with their lips,
but their heart Their heart, that's the problem. That's the
problem. The Lord reveals a true problem
by using the word of God to expose them as religious hypocrites,
those that pretend to be what they are not by playing the part
and only pleasing men. Now we're gonna see this again.
Turn over here to Matthew 23. When we get over there in Matthew
chapter 23, verse 23, Matthew 23, 23. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees. Now here's these same people,
Matthew 23, 23. He calls them again here hypocrites.
For you pay tithe, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin
and have omitted the wager matters of the law, judgment, mercy,
and faith. For these ought you have done
and not to leave the other undone, you blind guides which strain
at a gnat and swallow blind. We're going to see the blind
follow the blind, blind lead the blind, blind guides which
strain at a gnat and swallow a camel, or unto you scribes,
Pharisees, and hypocrites. For you make clean the outside
of the cup and the platter, but within you're full of extortion.
Excess, thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is in
the cup and platter, that the outside may be clean also. Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like
unto a white as sepulchre, which indeed appear beautiful outward,
but within you're full of dead men's bones. Even so outwardly,
you appear righteous unto men, but within you're full of hypocrisy
and iniquity." Now you got the picture there. The Pharisees
cleaned up on the outside, but God said your heart's dead before
God. Now back to Matthew 15. Matthew
15. Look at verse 8. This people
draw nigh to me, and he quotes here from Isaiah 29 verse 13
these this people draw an eye to me with their mouth They talk
a good game and they honor me with their lips, but the problem
is God looks on the heart God knows your heart. God knows our
heart. But the heart, the Lord said,
your heart's far away. You're far away. Now they speak,
the Pharisees do, great swelling words of religious talk, but
the problem is they've got heart trouble. Their heart is not right
in the sight of God. Jeremiah describes our heart,
Jeremiah 17, nine. You remember what Jeremiah said
of our wicked heart? Our heart is wicked, and desperately
so, who can know it? And that describes all of us
by nature. By nature, we have a wicked, unbelieving heart. Desperately wicked. Salvation
of the Lord is a heart work. The Lord looks upon the heart
and deals with the heart with an inward application of the
gospel upon our heart, our heart. We read a moment ago in Romans
10.10, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. We believe
with the heart. He gives us a new heart that
we might believe Him. We're going to see that in just
a minute. Now look at verse 9. Matthew 15.9, But in vain they
do worship Me, teaching for doctrines, not the... Now notice that word
there's plural. Doctrines. Whenever you read
that word doctrines in plural, it's always referring to false
doctrines of men. Whenever you read the word doctrine
singular in reference to the gospel, that word is always found
in the singular form. The doctrines of men, the commandments
of men, that's vain worship. Any worship that's not based
upon the word of God alone, That is how to approach God only through
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. His blood, His righteousness
alone is vain worship and it's nothing more than mere idolatry. That's all it is, idolatry. Our
Lord said this in John 8, it is the truth. You shall know
the truth and the truth shall set you free. The truth of the
gospel sets the sinner free from vain traditions of men. The gospel says it's free. Stand
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Now that's the word to the Pharisees.
The Pharisees are those who go about to establish righteousness
by their morality. And a lot of people have, they're
long dead and gone, but their religion is alive and well. A
lot of people think they're righteous because they have a good moral
standing. Your good moral standing is nothing
but Filthy rags in God's sight. Now here's a word, secondly,
to the multitude. Verse 10, he called the multitude,
and the multitude here, later on in this chapter, he's gonna
feed 4,000 men plus the women and children. The multitude here
are thousands of people. Thousands of people. He called
the multitude. He calls sinners to himself.
He calls a multitude and said unto them, hear and understand. Now here's what he says to clarify. It's not that which goes into
the mouth that defiles a person. But that which comes out of the
mouth, that defiles a man. Out of the heart proceeds evil
thoughts and all these different things. We should be always ready
to, look what it says right there, to hear. Hear what? What do you
want to hear? You want to hear flowery words?
You want to hear some sad story? You want to hear some traditions
of men? God's people want to hear the truth. They want to
hear the truth. Tell me clear, plain, and simple,
God is God, sovereign over all things. That's what we want to
hear, and from the hearing of the Word, we get understanding. Understanding comes from hearing
the Word of God. We should be always ready to
hear the Word of the Lord, and I pray this for myself all the
time. I pray this for myself all the time, and I pray this
for us collectively together. Lord, give us understanding.
I want to understand. You cannot believe what you don't
know. You can't understand what you
don't know. Reveal unto us the gospel. Give
us understanding that we may know the word of truth. You see,
the natural man, the carnal mind, does not understand the Gospel. The Gospel has to be revealed.
The natural man doesn't understand. But when we hear the Word of
God, and God blesses that by God the Holy Spirit, He gives
us an understanding that we may know Him that is true, that we're
in Him that is true, even in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. David said this, "...through
thy precepts I get understanding." Psalm 119. Through thy precepts
I get understanding, therefore I, you know the rest of that
verse? Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate
every false way. Because God's given us understanding,
I hate that which is contrary to the gospel of Christ. Because
God hates it. God hates it. Faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the word of the Lord. So the Lord calls
a multitude to himself and tells them, our problem, your problem,
our problem is not what you eat, it's what comes out of your heart.
That's the problem. Our problem is not eating our
lunch with dirty hands. The problem is we have a dirty,
wicked, guilty heart. That's our problem. A heart that's
in rebellion against God. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. There's none righteous, no not
one. Our problem is not touch not, taste not, handle not. Remember
Colossians chapter 2? Paul called that the religion
of not. Touch not, taste not, handle
not, which all are to perish with the using according to the
doctrines of men. So it's not touch not, taste
not, handle not. The Apostle Paul said in Romans
14, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness,
whose righteousness is that? Christ, our righteousness. Peace,
whose peace is that? Being justified by faith, where
peace would gone through our Lord Jesus Christ, and joy, with
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ alone. So it's not what
you put in. That's not going to defile your
soul before God. It's what comes out of your mouth
that reveals the true nature of our depraved heart. Now, the
third thing we see is this. In verse 12 down to verse 14,
the Lord has a word for the disciples. Then came the disciples unto
him. We have the Pharisees, we have the multitude, now the disciples
come to him. And they're going to correct
the Lord. They're going to rebuke the Lord. Knowest thou not that
the Pharisees were offended when they heard that saying? And he answered and said, every
plant which my father, my heavenly father, hath not planted is going
to be pulled up, rooted out. Then he said, leave them alone.
They be blind, leaders of the blind, And if the blind lead
the blind, all of them are going to end up in the ditch. All of
them are going to be destroyed. The disciples came to the Lord
and they said, you know, maybe you shouldn't have said that.
They were upset. They got mad. They were upset. You've offended them. You know
what I noticed here? The Lord didn't apologize. He
didn't apologize. The Lord didn't say, oh, I'm
sorry. I didn't mean to offend them. No, He meant to offend
them, didn't He? He meant to reveal them. Reveal
what's in them. The truth of God will always
expose and offend the religious hypocrite. The truth will. It'll
always offend the religious hypocrite. The truth will always offend
the liar. The liar will always be offended
with the truth. We cannot and must not compromise
any of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to satisfy the vain
ideas of wicked men. We preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, not to please men, but to glorify God. to glorify
God. You remember what Paul said in
Romans chapter 1? He said, I'm a debtor. Why do
we preach the gospel? Because he said, I'm a debtor
to the grace of God. Why do we preach the gospel?
Because we're not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why do
we preach the gospel? Because it's the power of God
and the salvation to everyone who believes it. Why do we preach
the gospel? Because therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, one degree of faith to
another. So we must preach the gospel. We cannot compromise
the gospel. Truth cannot be compromised. And this preacher, by the grace
of God, is determined. Because he has said, we may boldly
say, the Lord is our helper. My pastor, Brother Mahan, always
used to say this. He had this saying, when you
try to remove the offense out of the gospel, you take the power
out of it. Just preach it so you don't offend
anybody. When you do that, you compromise,
and you take the power of the gospel away. The gospel of Christ
is the power of God and salvation. Preach it, preach it, preach
it. God will bless it. God will bless it. Paul warned
Timothy, don't be ashamed. of the gospel. You remember what
he said? His last word from prison unto young Timothy, preach the
word. Preach the word. He said, don't be ashamed of
the gospel, nor of me, his prisoner. It's God who saved us. It's God
who's called us with a holy calling, not according to our work, but
according to his own purpose, his grace, given us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. God's people are unashamed
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We sing that song sometimes. Ashamed of Jesus? Can it be?
A mortal man ashamed of Thee? Certainly not. Look at verse
13. Matthew 15, 13. Every plant which
my Heavenly Father hath not planted will be rooted out. Rooted up. Will be exposed. Every sinner
that's not rooted and grounded and planted in the gospel soil
of the Lord Jesus Christ, resting on that foundation alone, shall
be rooted out by the righteous wrath and judgment of God. In
due time, their foot will slide in due time. Those resting in
the Lord Jesus Christ have a good true hope by his grace. Those resting in the Lord Jesus
Christ have a good hope Those resting on their works, Paul
calls that sinking sand. On Christ's solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. You remember back to Matthew,
turn back to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7, the Lord
said, I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against my church. but those who build on the sand
of works. Matthew 7, look at verse 21.
Matthew 7, 21, that everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth
the will of my Father, which is in heaven, what is that to
believe the gospel? For many will say to me in that
day, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name
we've cast out devils, and in thy name we've done many wonderful
works. Then I'll profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work
iniquity. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I liken him unto a wise
man which buildeth his house upon a rock. That rock is Christ. The rain descended, the floods
came, and the winds blew, and it built upon that house, and
it did not fall. It wasn't rooted up because it
was founded on the rock. That rock is Christ. That rock
is Christ. Everyone that heareth these sayings,
remember he said, hear and understand. Everyone that heareth these sayings
of mine and doeth them not shall be like unto a foolish man which
has built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the wind blew, and it beat upon that
house, and it fell. And great was the fall of it.
Rooted up. Everyone that's not been planted
in the Lord Jesus Christ by His sovereign grace will be rooted
out. Rooted out. And then the Lord
said in verse 14, He said, leave them alone. Just leave them alone. They'd be blind leaders of the
blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall away,
fall into the ditch. Our Lord, what our Lord does
here, he tells his disciples what to do with these self-righteous
Pharisees, just leave them alone. let them trust themselves for
salvation, stand before God on the basis of their deeds, the
Lord will, the Lord God, will overthrow and impose all those,
and imposes all those doctrines and traditions of man, and those
that follow their teaching will end up in the ditch of eternal
ruin. If you follow a preacher that
preaching a false gospel, all you will have is a false hope,
which will end in eternal ruin. and destruction. That's why Paul
said, I'm determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ
and him crucified. God told the old prophet Hosea,
Ephraim is turned and joined to his idols. Just leave him
alone. Leave idolatry alone. Don't seek
their approval, false preachers. Don't seek their approval. Don't
seek their fellowship. the Lord will deal with them
in due time. I have no dealings with any preachers in this whole
area because I don't know of anyone in this county or the
neighboring counties that are preaching the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I've got some friends that are
preaching the gospel in Kingsport and Lexington, Ashland, and other
places around. We have fellowship with them,
but I leave those alone who hate and despise the gospel that I
love and preach. The gospel of Christ and the
doctrine of Christ, like the gospel of Christ, will stand
forever. Ever. He said, I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. Now, in closing, let me give
you this. Here's the fourth word to Peter and the apostles. Peter answered and said unto
him, declaring this parable. And the
Lord said, are you without understanding also? Now remember before, Peter
said, we understand all things. Do you remember that? I think
it was back in chapter 13. I may have the wrong verse here. Peter said at one time, Lord,
we understand all things. I can't find the verse I was
thinking of. The Lord said, are you without understanding? Verse
17, do you not understand that which enters into the mouth,
goes into the belly, and is cast out into the sewer? But those
things which proceed out of the mouth, they come forth from the
heart. That's what defiles a sinner. For out of the heart, and this
is talking about, he's not talking about this organ here. When he
talks about the heart, it's the will, it's the emotions, it's
the whole, that makes up the whole person, the will, the thoughts,
the affections, the heart. Out of our wicked heart, the
things that proceed out of our wicked heart, that's what defiles
us. For out of the heart, he's talking
about your heart and mine, evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornication, thievery, false witnesses, blasphemies, evil
speaking against God. These are the things which defile
us. And he says it again the third
time, but to eat with unwashing hands, that's not the issue.
That's not the problem. The problem is we're wicked and
guilty and sinful. God must come and do something
for us and in us. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ
came. He came to save sinners. He came
to save sinners. The Lord makes it perfectly clear
again with the language a child can understand. It's not that
which we put in our mouth that defiles. No material substance
can touch my soul or defile my heart. It's what comes out of
the mouth that's the problem. Our problem is our sin nature
which we've received from our father Adam. In Adam we have
all sinned. In Adam we have received a polluted,
wicked, guilty heart. The traditions and ceremonies
of religion can never make a polluted heart clean. Did you get that? I'm going to repeat it. The traditions
and ceremonies of religion can never make a polluted heart clean. It's the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ that cleanses us from all our sin. Now I don't know
about you, but I grew up in works religion. I grew up in false
religion. I know a lot about it. I cut
my teeth on works religion. We were considered righteous
because we did not do certain things, or we did not go certain
places, we did not wear certain things. I didn't know, had never
heard the gospel, until one day God sent me a gospel preacher.
And I heard the truth. And God gave me faith to believe
Christ as all of my salvation, all of my righteousness. We know
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sin. It's only
by the powerful sovereign grace of God that can make a dead sinner
spiritually alive. It takes the sovereign power
of God to give us a new heart. That's what we need. We need
a new heart. He said, a new heart I'll give
you and a new spirit I'll put within you. I'll take away that
stony heart of flesh and I'll give you a heart that loves God. That's what he does when he regenerates
us. He quickens us. Only the power
of Christ, the gospel of Christ can make us new creatures in
Christ. Sadly, those who know nothing
of the corruption of their heart know nothing of true faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ and true repentance. True faith and true
repentance both acknowledge and believe that salvation's all
of grace, not of works, lest any man should boast. It's only
a true heart of faith that's been granted true repentance,
that believes that salvation's all of grace. So my dear friend,
don't be content. or trust in any religious or
irreligious deeds, the ceremonies or traditions and doctrines of
men. Don't trust that. Trust Christ alone. Find all your salvation where
it's revealed. It's revealed in Christ. He's
the Savior. Look to him. Our Lord said, look
unto me. Look unto me. I am God, beside
me there is none other. Look unto me and be ye saved.
All the ends of the earth. I am God, there is none other.
Looking unto Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith.
Saving faith. How do I know if I have saving
faith? Saving faith looks alone to the
Lord Jesus Christ for all of salvation. How do I know if I
have repentance? Our Lord said, except you repent,
you'll perish. How do I know if I have true repentance? True
repentance acknowledges the salvation of the Lord, and of Him only. The Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father but
by and through Me. Me. Well, let me ask you this. You reckon there's any hope for
a self-righteous, self-centered, lost Pharisee? Is there any hope
for such a man? Saul of Tarsus is one of those.
You couldn't find a more self-righteous Pharisee than Saul of Tarsus.
What happened to him? God made him an apostle of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then he said, I count all
things that lost, dung, and ruined, that I may win Christ and be
found in him. All the ground is sinking sand.