The title of my message today
is, Today's Religion. Now, this message just might
be a little offensive to some of you, but I think it's an important
message that needs to be preached. And I'm asking you to open your
Bibles with me to the 23rd chapter of Matthew. If you will, please,
open your Bibles. I'm going to be reading several
verses of Scripture from Matthew chapter 23. and speak to you
on the subject, today's religion. Now, my friends, we need to speak
to the issues. When we preach the Word of God,
we need to apply that Word to the day in which we live. We
don't need to be talking about a day that has passed or a day
that is to come. But we need to take the Scriptures
that we're reading and preaching and apply them to our own situation. And this scripture that I've
selected for a text is a vivid picture, a plain graphic picture
of today's religion in America. Matthew chapter 23. I want you
to turn there and follow as I speak. Now, this is a religious generation. America, like Jerusalem of old,
is a religious nation. Churches and religious organizations
are everywhere. Nearly every town in America
has dozens and dozens of church buildings and religious organizations. Religious programs are on every
television station and every radio station. Some radio stations
and some television stations, 24 hours a day, you can get religion
in America. There are thousands of preachers.
They're preachers who are self-appointed. They're preachers who are appointed
by their denomination. But there are thousands of preachers
in America. There are hundreds and thousands
of what we call Christian schools. There's a Bible in every home,
in every office, in every motel room, in every jail, and in every
hospital room. There's a Bible wherever you
go. And religious leaders, are even
attempting to take over political parties and elect government
officials and blackball other government officials. We are
definitely in a very religious day. America is a religious nation. And my friends, remember, I am
not excusing indifference to real moral issues and problems. I'm not excusing indifference.
Nor am I discouraging zeal for those things which we believe
and those things which are important. But anyone with any understanding
of the Scriptures at all can see that today's religion in
America is an outward form of godliness that denies the power
of God inwardly. It's an outward religion. It's
a show of religion. It's a profession of religion
that denies the power and presence of God inwardly or in the heart. Now, when our Lord walked on
this earth, when Jesus Christ, our Lord, was walking on this
earth in the flesh, when He walked through Jerusalem, when He walked
through Galilee, when He walked through Capernaum, the nation
of Israel was religious just like we are. They were moral
and legalistic to the core. The nation of Israel and the
city of Jerusalem was the most religious nation and city on
the face of the earth. The religious leaders ruled. They influenced the government.
The people went about the form of religion and the ceremonies
of religion and tried to keep the laws of religion systematically. And the laws of religion were
diligently and strongly enforced. Example of that is when they
brought the woman down in adultery, and cast her at the feet of Christ,
and told him, Moses' law condemns her to be stoned, what do you
say we ought to do? These religious laws were strictly
enforced, and yet our Lord said of that religious day, you call
me Lord with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. That was their problem, and that's
our problem. You call me Lord with your lips,
but your hearts, your souls, your spirits are far from me.
He said again to these people, these religious leaders, you
clean up the outside of the cup, but within you're full of extortion
and excess. He says you pay price, you observe
days, you keep the ordinances of religion, but you have neglected
the important weightier matters of the Word of God. judgment,
mercy, and faith. You have done one thing diligently,
but you have neglected the most important thing of all." He said,
you wash your hands, and you're careful about everything that
goes into your mouths, and you ignore the evils which live in
your heart. And it's not that which a man
puts in his mouth that condemns him, it's that which comes forth
from his heart. He said to the religious leaders,
you are the blind leading the blind. The people are following
their religious leader blindly until they both fall into the
ditch. You turn with me to Matthew 23.
In Matthew 23, our Lord Jesus Christ, speaking to His disciples
and the people, describes the religious leaders and the religion
of Jerusalem and the religion of Israel and gives us in describing
these religious leaders, a plain picture of today's religion in
America. It's so clear you will be astounded
as you read it. Now look with me at Matthew 23,
first of all, verse 2. He says in verse 2, the scribes
and the Pharisees, now those were the preachers and prophets
of that day, the religious leaders of that day, the scribes and
the Pharisees, they sit in Moses' seat. They sit in Moses' seat,
they occupy a position of authority and they take to themselves a
title. And they say, but they do not. And they bind heavy burdens,
burdens of laws and ceremonies and traditions and customs on
men's shoulders and offer them no relief. I tell you this, it
takes more than a position and a title to make one a prophet
of God. It takes more than just occupying
Moses' seat, or the office of pastor, or the office of missionary,
or superintendent, or evangelist to make one a preacher of the
gospel of God's grace. You know what it takes? It takes
a call from Moses' God. These men sat in Moses' seat. They occupied the position of
leadership, but they didn't have the call from God. that is required
if a man is going to be a prophet. Not only does this require a
call from God, but it requires an experience of grace in the
heart as Moses had. And more than that, it requires
a message given to that man from God to take to the people. He
said these men occupy an office. They assume a position of authority. And they claim to be God's prophets. But it takes a call from God
to make a profit. And it takes an experience of
grace. And it takes a message given to that man's heart from
the God of glory to make him a preacher of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Notice, if you will, verse 5.
Now listen carefully. He said, All their works they
do to be seen of men. Not to be seen of God and not
to be heard of God, but these religious works that they do,
they do them to be seen of men. Now let me ask you some questions.
For whose eyes and approval do we build these gaudy religious
buildings with their steeples reaching to heaven and with their
gaudy picture windows and their crosses everywhere? These buildings
that we build and call them church buildings, for whose approval,
for whose eyes? Certainly God is not impressed
with these things. We're trying to impress people.
We're doing our works to the scene of men. Let me ask you
this, for whose information do we count people? We count how
many is in Sunday school, how many is in the morning service,
how many is in the evening service, how many made a profession, how
many did this, how many did that. Why do we count people? Why do
we report numbers? Why do we report our successes?
God Almighty doesn't need these figures. God Almighty doesn't
need these reports. We're doing these things to be
seen of men, to be heard of men. We're doing them for the praise
of men. All their works they do to be seen of men. For whose
information do we write up our meetings in the paper? All the
church socials are written up in the paper. Oh, this one did
that, this one did something else, we had so many there. All
the church socials and church events and meetings are written
up in the local paper. For whose eyes? For whose information? Does God need to read it in the
paper? Are we doing these things to be seen of men, to impress
men? For whose praise do we report
our great offerings and our great accomplishments and the souls
we won to Jesus? When a church builds a building
and pays off a mortgage and calls in a newspaper reporter to take
a picture of the pastor and the head deacon, burning the mortgage
and put it on the front page of the paper. For whose information
is that? Is that for God's information?
Certainly God knows what we're doing. God doesn't need a record
or a report. He doesn't need us to keep numbers.
He doesn't need us to number Israel as David did. Our Lord
describes us. He says they sit in Moses' seat,
but they don't have Moses' message. They don't have Moses' God. They
don't have Moses' grace. And they do their work. to be
seen and heard of men. You know it and I know it. Our
Lord told us when we fast to wash our face that we appear
not to men to fast. He said when you pray, don't
pray openly, publicly, with a long pretense. Go into your closet
and shut the door. And God who hears in secret will
bless you openly. And when you give, don't give
with a fanfare. Don't give for applause. Give
in secret, as unto the Lord. Notice verse 6 and 7. Listen
to this. They love the uppermost rooms
and the chief seats in the synagogue, and they love to be called of
men, Rabbi, Rabbi, Master, Master. Oh, my friends, how men and women
love religious titles, how they love religious authority. how
they love to stand in front of people and be seen and be heard
and be called by some official title. The Bible recognizes prophets. It recognizes apostles. It recognizes
evangelists. It recognizes pastors and teachers. But we've invented all kind of
titles. We've got titles all around us.
We've got reverends. We've got doctors. We've got
cardinals. We've got popes. We've got superintendents. We've got deaconesses, we've
got presidents and secretaries, we've got all manner of titles.
And the Lord Jesus Christ said, Call no man your father on this
earth, you have one Father who is in heaven. Be not ye called
masters, you have one Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He
that's greatest among you, let Him be your servant. But there's
no one looking for the office of servant. They're looking for
titles. They love to be called rabbi,
rabbi. Everybody wants to take the floor,
but nobody wants to sweep the floor. Everybody wants to stand
up and be heard, nobody wants to just bow down and worship.
And I'm saying that we're plagued with an outward form of godliness
and denying the power thereof. But that's not all. Read verse
13. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
You shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. You neither enter
yourselves nor suffer others to enter. Not only do these false
prophets and preachers and teachers refuse to believe the truth and
to hear the word of God and to preach the glorious gospel of
God's glory and grace in Christ Jesus, not only will they not
preach it, but they discredit those who do. And they discourage
their people from listening to those who are telling the truth,
and they discourage people from following those who are preaching
the gospel, and urge them to follow them in their religious
games. He said, you won't enter the
kingdom of God. You won't listen to the truth
of the Word of God, and you won't suffer or permit anyone else
to. Listen to verse 14. Oh, will
you listen a moment? Will you listen? If this is not
today's religion, He said, you devour widows' houses. You devour
widows' houses. These religious leaders have
no conscience. They take money from poor widows
to support themselves in their greed for luxury and their greed
for high living. They advertise the kingdom of
God as something you buy. You send your money to me and
God will bless you. You send your money to me so
that I can live in high style and luxury while poor widows
and people on Social Security and people who can't afford it
are sending most of their income to support these religious programs."
And he said, you make pretense by praying long prayers. They pretend to pray to impress
those who see them and hear them. Real prayer is closet work. Real
prayer is secret work. But these men want to appear
to be religious to impress poor, deceived people into supporting
their causes. And so they make these long prayers. And you know what he says in
verse 14? You shall receive the greater condemnation. Listen
to verse 15. You encompass sea and land to
make one proselyte to your religion. Everybody's out trying to make
proselytes to their religion. and to their persuasion and to
their denomination. And when you've made Him, when
you've made Him, when you've converted Him to your cause and
to your beliefs, He's two-fold more the child of hell than you
yourselves. These men are not really interested
in people knowing God and knowing Christ and coming to a living,
intimate, personal, saving union with Christ. They're interested
in success. They're interested in having
a bigger crowd and a bigger following and making a bigger splash on
the religious scene. They want success as soul winners. And God said, you did it. You
did it. You come from sea and land. You
make him a convert. You make him a proselyte. You
did it. God didn't do it. You did it.
You gave him that profession of faith. You gave him that false
refuge. My friend, salvations of the
Lord. It's a work of God's grace from
beginning to end, from Alpha to Omega. And it's not talking
a man into a religious profession. I've heard so many preachers
admit that these crowds that they get down to the altar, and
they get down to the front at the close of a service while
they're putting that pressure of Hollywood evangelism on men
and women to make some kind of religious profession, Nearly
all of them will admit that a majority, a majority, some say 95%, of
those who walk the aisles and make professions do not continue
in any kind of faith. Then I ask, why do we encourage
these false professors? Why don't we preach the gospel
and pray for people and commit them to Christ and wait on the
Holy Spirit to do a personal, individual work in the sinner's
heart and bring him to faith in Christ? Listen to this, verse
25. You make clean the outside of
the cup and the platter, but within you're full of extortion
and excess. You aim to reform people outwardly,
and you fail to see that true conversion is not a reformation
of the flesh, it is a change of heart. True conversion is
not in dress, it is in God giving a new heart and a new nature.
If a man knows God in his heart, if he's a new creature in Christ,
he will live godly, he will walk in righteousness, he will live
in honesty and truth, but his motivation will not be your rules
and regulations and your threats of punishment and your promise
of reward. His motivation will be his love
for Christ. The love of Christ will constrain
him. But to appear righteous before
men is to be like a cemetery. beautiful on the outside and
full of dead men's bones on the inside. Christ said in verse
29, you garnish, you decorate, you adorn the tombs of the prophets. And you say, if we had lived
in the days of our fathers, we wouldn't have killed the prophets.
You brag on dead prophets and you kill living prophets. You
brag on Moses. You brag on the apostles. You
brag on the reformers like Calvin, Luther, Spurgeon. and you condemn
and destroy and kill true preachers that are preaching just what
these men preach. Let me give you an example. I was listening
to a television preacher a few days ago, just recently, and
he spent four or five minutes bragging on Martin Luther, the
great reformer Martin Luther, and Whitefield and Spurgeon.
And then in his message, he denied everything that Luther taught,
Everything that Whitefield taught and everything that Spurgeon
taught. He doesn't believe what Martin Luther believed. I'm a
student of Martin Luther and George Whitefield and Charles
Spurgeon. I'm preaching what those men preached, what those
men died for. And these modern preachers, those
men are nothing but names to them, famous names. And if they
were living today, these men would destroy them. These men
would not even hear them because they won't read what those men
wrote. It's dishonest to brag on a dead preacher and kill a
man who preaches what that dead man preached. They brag on the
success of these men, not their message. And our Lord summed
it up in verse 33, and He said, How can you escape the damnation
of hell with this kind of attitude? Now look at verse 23 of Matthew
23. He said, You pay tithes, and
on all things, even these anise and cumin, little herbs, You
pay tithe even on little herbs, the smallest herb. But you have
neglected the weightier, the important matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith. In all of our religion and zeal
and promotion, it'd do well for us to slow down and listen to
the Master and hear Him talk about the weightier matters,
the important matters of the law, judgment. What's he talking
about judgment? You've neglected judgment. Well,
it's appointed unto men once to die, after that to judgment. We shall all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ. My friend, here's the great question.
The great question is, how can a man be just with God? How can
he be just with God? How can I one day stand before
God at the judgment, forgiven, pardoned, justified, redeemed? The issue is not my dress, it's
my depravity. The issue is not my habits, it's
my heart. The issue is not my ways, the
issue is my will. Something's got to be done about
my depravity, my heart, and my perverse will to bring me into
subjection to God Almighty. Something's got to be done about
the holy law of God. Something's got to be done about
God's justice. Who's going to do it? I can't
do it. You can't do it. Well, who's
going to do it for us? Who's going to deliver us from
judgment and justice and condemnation? Only one. And that's Christ the
Lord. He's our Redeemer. It says, There
is therefore now no condemnation, no judgment to them who are in
Christ. Paul said, Who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies justice,
judgment, justification. Justify it. God does. Who is
He that condemned it? Christ died. Yea, rather He's
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who intercedes
for us. Judgment. That's the weightier
matter of the law. What about your sins? And then
mercy. Here's a matter of grave concern.
Mercy. Whose mercy? God's mercy. God's mercy to sinners in Christ.
God said, I will be merciful. I will be gracious. The Lord
Jesus said, I am come. Not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance. I'm not come for your sacrifice
and self-denial. I'm come to show mercy. Mercy. And then David said in Psalm
51, O Lord, be merciful to me. All who came to Christ came seeking
mercy. Blind Bartimaeus said, Jesus,
our son of David, have mercy upon me. The Canaanite woman
prayed, Lord, have mercy upon me. This is what I need. What
do you need? Mercy for the miserable. Mercy. That's the way you matter
of the law. The mercy of God in Christ. And
then faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Our Lord sent us out to preach
the gospel to every creature and said, He that believeth shall
be saved. And then He said, If you shall
confess with your mouth Jesus to be Lord and believe in your
heart God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God. These things are
written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ and
believing you might have life through His name. Now, this message
is on a cassette tape along with a message I'll bring next week.
If you want it, you send two dollars and we'll send this message
to you by return mail. The message is entitled, Today's
Religion. Now, something else I want to
present to you today. About seven years ago, I began
writing Sunday school lessons for our church, the 13th Street
Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky. I've looked everywhere for suitable
Sunday school Bible class material and have never been able to find
it. And so about seven years ago, I began to write these Bible
class commentaries, these Sunday school lessons, using the 21
epistles of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament and James
and John and the other writers, Peter, Jude. And I wrote these
lessons verse by verse, and I wrote them in language that the ordinary,
common, everyday fellow can read. These books, Romans, 1 and 2
Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Galatians, have been printed
by Evangelical Press in London, England. And we have received
copies of the book, and I'd like to show them to you. You look
at them. They'll show them to you on the
camera. And if you'd like to have these books, you send five
dollars. That's what we have to charge
for them, five dollars for all three books. And there you have
the book of Romans, verse by verse, in simple, plain, everyday
language. I take each verse and tell you
what the verse means, the next verse, what that verse means,
what it applies to and so forth. And I go all the way through
Romans, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy and Galatians.
Now, we plan to publish all of these books. There'll be six
volumes in all, but this is all I have at the present time. Galatians,
Romans, and the Thessalonian letters, and the letters to Timothy.
And if you'll send five dollars, I'll mail you these books. Now,
the announcer will give you the address where you can write and
get these books at the close of the broadcast. And I hope
you'll write for the tape. I don't like to offer things
on the television program. I'm not saying if you don't write
in, we're going off the air or anything like that. I want you
to have these books if you're interested. I think they're good. I think they'll meet a need.
If you teach a Sunday school class, if you teach a Bible class,
if you want them just to read for your own private devotions,
they're in language you can understand. I've found that some of the weightier
commentaries are difficult to wade through, but these are in
simple language. So if you want these three books,
containing six of the epistles of the New Testament, you write
to me and we'll send them to you right away. And you join
us next Lord's Day for this program. Until then, Henry Mahan, bidding
you a very pleasant, good day.