back to index2015-11-01 Close But No Cigar
00:00:00.000 |
If you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans 2, I'll be in verse 17-24 this morning. Romans 2, verse 17-24. 00:00:14.000 |
Reading out of the ESV, "But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know His will and approve of what is excellent because you are instructed from the law, 00:00:27.000 |
and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, 00:00:37.000 |
you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? 00:00:46.000 |
You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law, for as it is written, the name of God is blaspheme among the Gentiles because of you." 00:00:57.000 |
Let's pray. Gracious and loving Father, we thank you so much for this morning. We ask Lord God that your living word would truly be living, 00:01:07.000 |
and it would judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart that what we give to you, Father God, may be true in spirit and in truth. 00:01:18.000 |
We entrust this time to you, Father, asking the Holy Spirit to use your word to speak to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:01:25.000 |
You know, years ago when Esther was, Esther and I, we were in college, she had a roommate whose father thought he won the lottery. 00:01:37.000 |
You know, he was supposed to hit the numbers and he came home thinking that he hit all the numbers, but actually when he came home and looked at the numbers, he missed it by one. 00:01:45.000 |
And so he won, from what I remember, about $10,000, $12,000, but he could have been a millionaire. 00:01:51.000 |
And so I remember her telling us the story and she told me that her, you know, her friend told me that her father was sick for a couple weeks. 00:01:58.000 |
So can you imagine being that close to winning the lottery? And, you know, I remember her family was having financial issues and I remember praying for her family. 00:02:07.000 |
So the father was sick for weeks, you know. To come that close to something, you know, in the minds of the world, and probably you and I can probably relate, 00:02:15.000 |
you know, if you've ever worked so hard for something and then to not to be able to attain it. 00:02:21.000 |
It's one thing when you didn't really put your best out there, you know, you kind of slacked off. 00:02:26.000 |
Maybe you had a final coming and you waited until the last night to study and then you didn't get a good grade. 00:02:32.000 |
You kind of like, I better get my act straight and I better study harder and plan better and be disciplined. 00:02:38.000 |
But there are those times when you put every effort that you need. You stay longer at work. You kiss up to your boss. 00:02:46.000 |
You do extra work, you know, at school, maybe do extra credit and you did everything possible. 00:02:51.000 |
And then to come short. I think every one of us knows how that feels, how frustrating that must be. 00:02:58.000 |
But consider spiritually to have every advantage given to you and then to have stand before God and for God to say, I don't even know who you are. 00:03:11.000 |
That's the tragic story of the Israelites. By the time of Christ, they were more privileged than any other nation in the whole world. 00:03:21.000 |
They had more opportunities. They saw the miracles of God. And yet when Christ came, he. 00:03:29.000 |
Picks them out and he speaks most harshly toward them. 00:03:35.000 |
Now they had a right to be boasting in in chapter and verse 17, it says you call yourself a Jew and you rely on the law and you boast in God. 00:03:44.000 |
They were proud that they had this. They had this special relationship with God. 00:03:48.000 |
And how can we blame them? If you read the scripture in Hosea chapter 11, one, three and four, there's a description of how God sees his people. 00:03:58.000 |
Typically, when we think of the relationship between God and the nation of Israel, you say you have this mighty God who's overseeing his nation, this king and his subjects. 00:04:09.000 |
But the relationship between God and Israel was much more intimate than that. Let me read the passage to you. 00:04:15.000 |
Hosea 11, one. When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt, I called my son. 00:04:22.000 |
Verse four, I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love to them. I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek and I bent down to feed them. 00:04:31.000 |
Did you hear that? The description that God gives the nation of Israel is like a father who adores his son and picks him as his rubbing his cheek. 00:04:39.000 |
You ever see a father do that? You know, very intimate scene or a mother. Right. And so in love with the child, they just kind of like just rubbing their cheeks. 00:04:48.000 |
Right. That's not my word. This is God describing his relationship with Israel. In Zechariah chapter two, eight, there's a term that is used that we often use in other contexts. 00:04:59.000 |
It actually comes from the scripture for thus said the Lord of hosts after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you for he who touches you touches the apple of his eyes. 00:05:10.000 |
He describes oftentimes about six or seven times the nation of Israel as apple of his eyes. 00:05:16.000 |
The actual literal translation of this term in Hebrew is the little man in his eyes. 00:05:23.000 |
That's the actual translation. Now, if they just translated literally like you are the little man in my eyes. 00:05:29.000 |
What? Like there's an idol in his eyes. Right. What is he talking about? 00:05:34.000 |
Well, I think if you really understood what he what they're saying in Hebrew, it would it has a more poetic and depth into what it's saying. 00:05:42.000 |
To describe someone as a little man in his eyes, meaning that when if I'm looking and gazing at something and I'm constantly engaged, that that person will be reflected in my eye. 00:05:53.000 |
So what God is saying, nation of Israel, you are constantly in my eye that I'm watching you. You are always in my care. 00:06:01.000 |
So the relationship that the nation of Israel had with with God was a very intimate relation. 00:06:08.000 |
God genuinely loved them. And I think any parent will know, you know, kind of love that God gives us for our children. 00:06:15.000 |
And, you know, for those of you who are parents for the first time, you know, it's you're probably amazed how much love you have for your children that you thought this is something that, you know, that you couldn't muster up. 00:06:25.000 |
God gave it to you. Right. But you understand that when God describes his love for the nation of Israel, they weren't just his subjects. 00:06:33.000 |
They weren't just a project. The scripture says God loved them. And how did he love them? How did he express his love to them? 00:06:42.000 |
He said he gave them his law. We saw that in Chapter one, that to the Gentiles, the non Israelites, God gave special general revelation, meaning that he left his imprint about his nature and his character. 00:06:56.000 |
And therefore, he said, no one is without excuse. God revealed himself to everybody. But to the Gentiles, he gave general revelation, just imprints enough so that we can see who he is. 00:07:09.000 |
But to the nation of Israel, he gave special revelation. He spoke to them his own heart. He gave them details of his plans, of his desires and his love for them. 00:07:21.000 |
You know, there are things that I will share up in the pulpit and I will tell you certain things when there are certain things that I would only tell my wife because of a covenant relationship, because of the intimacy that we have. 00:07:31.000 |
There are certain things that I would share with other people that I would not share with, with, with, with, that I would only share with my wife. 00:07:38.000 |
So the scripture says that the nation of Israel was loved and had this special covenant relationship with God would give his law to them. 00:07:48.000 |
You know, up to this point, Paul has been making really one point. He says, you know, we, the Gentiles who don't have the law are guilty without the law, but the Jews who have the law are guilty with the law. 00:08:00.000 |
So the question that a Jew would be asking at the end of this discourse is that what advantage does a Jew have? 00:08:07.000 |
All this time for hundreds and hundreds of years, they thought they had a special relationship with God. 00:08:12.000 |
Well, Paul answers that question in Romans chapter 3. We're going to get to that in a couple of weeks. 00:08:18.000 |
He says, what advantage has a Jew, Paul is already thinking that this is probably what they're going to be, they're going to be thinking and asking because of what I've been saying. 00:08:26.000 |
Well, what advantages does a Jew have? What value is circumcision, this covenant symbol? 00:08:32.000 |
Much in every way. He said, "To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God." 00:08:38.000 |
He said, "God expressed His love to the nation of Israel where He spoke things to them. He gave things to them that others didn't have." 00:08:47.000 |
And again, Paul describes this special relationship that Israel has with God in Romans 9, 4-5. 00:08:53.000 |
They were, they are Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, the promises. 00:09:03.000 |
To them belong the patriarchs from the race. According to the flesh is a Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. 00:09:13.000 |
So in other words, what Paul was saying is in every way, every way, if you are a Jew, you have that advantage. 00:09:22.000 |
By the time Christ shows up, we know exactly what happens. Christ comes up and not only did they completely miss their Messiah, they end up rejecting Him. 00:09:35.000 |
There's a man who, another story about a man who almost won the lottery. 00:09:41.000 |
In 2005, March, he bought two tickets and he bought one ticket, two tickets at the same time, but he did it at the end of the deadline. 00:09:51.000 |
So what happened was he purchased two tickets, but the second ticket was the lottery winner. 00:09:56.000 |
But the problem was the second ticket was purchased seven seconds after the deadline. 00:10:00.000 |
So the first ticket was relevant for the first drawing. Second ticket was relevant for the second drawing, which would have happened on March 30th, 2005. 00:10:09.000 |
And the first one was March 23rd, 2005. So when he first looked at the ticket, he thought he won. 00:10:14.000 |
So he went and checked it out and they looked at the date and he said, "You missed it by seven seconds." 00:10:19.000 |
So starting from 2005, March until 2015, for 10 years, he was in a lawsuit against a Canadian lottery. 00:10:29.000 |
And in 2015, at the beginning of this year, the court basically threw his case out of the court and said, "Legally, you have no standing." 00:10:39.000 |
Can you imagine one first finding out that he thought he won the ticket, won the lottery, and here's the clincher. 00:10:46.000 |
The cost of the lottery, what he would have won if he won, was $27 million. 00:10:52.000 |
So initially, he thought he won $27 million. And then he realized that he didn't get it because of the seven seconds. 00:10:58.000 |
And then he worked 10 years to fight with the government to get the money, hoping. 00:11:05.000 |
And then at the end of 10 years, he got zero. He didn't get some money, he got zero. 00:11:11.000 |
Because all of those numbers were absolutely worthless. 00:11:16.000 |
The tragedy of the nation of Israel up to this point was that they worked all their lives. 00:11:22.000 |
They had all the privileges. But you know what happened. By the time Christ came, because of the rebellion against God, 00:11:29.000 |
and they kept on worshipping idols and wouldn't obey His commandments, foreign nations kept on coming. 00:11:35.000 |
The Assyrians came, the Babylonians came, the Persians came, and then the Greeks came, and then the Romans came. 00:11:42.000 |
So by the time Christ shows up, the nation of Israel are fully aware, fully aware that because they messed up, 00:11:49.000 |
that that's why the Romans were in the position that they were. 00:11:53.000 |
And they resented these Gentiles who were ruling over them. 00:11:56.000 |
And they were praying and hoping that one day that the Messiah was going to come and deal with this issue, make things right. 00:12:04.000 |
Well the Jews dealt with their spiritual situation in four different ways. 00:12:09.000 |
The first group were the Sadducees. They were the liberals of the group. 00:12:13.000 |
They saw their situation, they saw the Romans who were lording it over them. 00:12:18.000 |
Their solution was, can't beat them, let's join them. 00:12:22.000 |
They were the liberals of the group. They said, let's get rid of these strange doctrine. 00:12:26.000 |
If they tell us to bow down, we'll bow down. If they tell us to do this, we'll do this. 00:12:30.000 |
And so they were the ones who were the ruling government of Israel. 00:12:36.000 |
It was a political group just to get for selfish gain. 00:12:43.000 |
These are the people who, living a Christian life is too difficult, so they compromise and they adjust. 00:12:48.000 |
And there's no difference between them or a secular person. 00:12:57.000 |
Zealots were the Crusaders. These are the guys who were waiting for some kind of physical battle to take place. 00:13:03.000 |
They were always walking around with a knife in the back. 00:13:05.000 |
And every opportunity they get, they're going to stick it to them. 00:13:09.000 |
Well, after the first century, we don't hear much about the Zealots. 00:13:13.000 |
And the reason why, as Jesus said, "He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword." 00:13:19.000 |
So in AD 70, when they were disappointed with Jesus, they said, you know what, Jesus is going to come, 00:13:27.000 |
And Jesus comes and He just completely surrenders, and He gets crucified and He dies. 00:13:32.000 |
So the Zealots, in their disappointment, said, you know what, we're going to do it. 00:13:36.000 |
These Zealots were the kind of guys who were saying, you know what, forget all of this. 00:13:39.000 |
We're not going to depend on anything. We're going to do it ourselves. 00:13:43.000 |
These are the guys who have a five-year plan, ten-year plan, fifteen-year plan, 00:13:47.000 |
that if we get enough education, if we have enough experience, we're just going to will the Kingdom of God. 00:13:55.000 |
Well, you know what happened. They tried to fight against the Romans. 00:13:58.000 |
They got sick of these Zealots who were constantly rebelling. They came and wiped them out. 00:14:02.000 |
Temple's destroyed. Israel is gone. And they were the Zealots. 00:14:10.000 |
Essenes were the people, you know what, I'm so sick and tired of this battle, you know, of the city, about breaking the... 00:14:16.000 |
Forget this! And they packed up their bags and they went into the caves. 00:14:22.000 |
Most of you probably have never heard of the Essenes. 00:14:25.000 |
And the reason why is because they're not mentioned in the Bible. 00:14:27.000 |
And the reason why they're not in the Bible is because they're in caves. 00:14:33.000 |
These are the guys who are playing basketball and they're not... 00:14:36.000 |
You know, you're not passing me the ball. How come I'm not playing? 00:14:47.000 |
You guys know about the Dead Sea Scroll. They picked up the scroll. 00:14:49.000 |
They went into the cave and they just disappeared. 00:14:52.000 |
Right? And there's some Christians like that too. 00:14:55.000 |
They've been in the church and they've worked hard and they got disappointed left and right. 00:14:58.000 |
And they say, you know what, forget it. They got burned too many times in the church and I don't want anything to do with them. 00:15:02.000 |
So it's just, I'm just going to read the Bible. I'm just going to do my thing and I'm not going to care about anybody else. 00:15:10.000 |
But the greatest tragedy were not the Sadducees because Sadducees already gave up. 00:15:15.000 |
It wasn't even the Zealous. Even though they died, I mean it was a quick, swift death. 00:15:22.000 |
The Essenes were in the cave. They just lived their life out. 00:15:25.000 |
You know what I mean? It was just in the cave. 00:15:31.000 |
Because Pharisees' answer to their spiritual plight was, you know what, we messed up. Let's own up to our sins. 00:15:39.000 |
We were compromised. Our nation is becoming Hellenized. We're becoming secular. You know, we're not going to do that. 00:15:46.000 |
Even the very name Pharisee means to be set apart. Holy. 00:15:50.000 |
So the Pharisees' intention was, let's go back to the law. 00:15:54.000 |
And so, you know, now when we think of Pharisee, we just automatically, oh hypocrite, oh you're a Pharisee, you're a hypocrite. 00:16:00.000 |
If you look at the history of the Pharisees, they're the only ones who actually engaged. 00:16:06.000 |
Sadducees compromised. The Zealots, like, they wanted to fight. 00:16:12.000 |
Essenes disappeared. Pharisees said, you know what, we need to get back to the law. 00:16:17.000 |
So they wanted to keep the Sabbath. They said, you know what, that's not enough. 00:16:21.000 |
Let's keep the Sabbath and let's add extra laws. 39 extra laws to make sure that we never compromise this again. 00:16:28.000 |
They're the ones who prayed. They're the ones who tithe. 00:16:32.000 |
They're the ones who sacrificed. They're the ones who kept the law. 00:16:36.000 |
600 and some of it. And yet the tragedy is when Jesus comes in Matthew 7 22, it says, 00:16:43.000 |
On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? 00:16:52.000 |
And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. 00:16:58.000 |
Matthew chapter 7 is at the tail end of the Sermon on the Mount. 00:17:03.000 |
It begins in chapter 5. Those of you who know what the Sermon on the Mount is, 00:17:08.000 |
Sermon on the Mount basically is Jesus giving a sermon about what the new kingdom is going to look like and what are the characteristics. 00:17:16.000 |
So he begins, who are the people, the kingdom, kingdom of God, this new kingdom? 00:17:21.000 |
Well, he begins with the Beatitudes. Beatitude basically is a description of repentance. 00:17:28.000 |
Beatitude basically is you think you're going to get into the kingdom if you're rich, if you're mighty. 00:17:33.000 |
He says, no, it's the poor. It's those who mourn. It's a description of repentance. 00:17:38.000 |
So someone who has humbled himself enters into the kingdom. 00:17:42.000 |
And then this tail end, the exclamation mark at the end of the Sermon on the Mount is to warn them. 00:17:50.000 |
The kingdom of God is not simply by your effort and self-righteousness. 00:17:54.000 |
He says, no, the law is not going to bring you in. 00:17:58.000 |
In fact, the next part where he actually ends the Sermon on the Mount, he says, do not build on sand, but on the solid rock of Christ. 00:18:10.000 |
You see, everything about the law, the special relationship, the special revelation that God gave to the nation of Israel 00:18:18.000 |
was meant to bring them low, was meant so that they can come and recognize that the Messiah that's going to come was going to save them from their sin. 00:18:31.000 |
But they didn't recognize him because they looked at the law and it filled them with pride. 00:18:37.000 |
They obeyed the law. They did everything. They were disciplined. They were evangelizing. They were doing all this stuff. 00:18:42.000 |
But at the end of that, they said, look at the special relationship that we have with God. 00:18:49.000 |
And you brag that you know his will and approve of what is excellent because you are instructed from the law. 00:18:58.000 |
And if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind and light to those who are in darkness, instructor of the foolish and teacher of the children, 00:19:04.000 |
having in the law the embodiment of the knowledge of the truth, you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? 00:19:15.000 |
Jesus says in John chapter 5, 39-40, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. 00:19:22.000 |
And that is at the crux, that is at the center, epicenter of where their sin was. 00:19:28.000 |
That the harder they worked, the more laws that they kept, the more proud that they became because they thought they were closer to God than anybody else. 00:19:42.000 |
And so when Jesus came humbled, they didn't recognize him. 00:19:46.000 |
Now if Jesus came as the king riding on a horse to conquer, if he came and immediately sat on the throne of the Roman Empire, they would have recognized him. 00:19:59.000 |
But all their life they kept the law and more law that they kept, the more they stacked up underneath them and they became proud. 00:20:07.000 |
So when Jesus came below all of that, they didn't recognize him. 00:20:12.000 |
That's why when John the Baptist came, you know if John the Baptist came and he came through the religious system and he was teaching and preaching at the temple under the authority of the high priest, they wouldn't have any problem with him. 00:20:25.000 |
It's like that's exactly what he was supposed to do. 00:20:29.000 |
He went away from the temple and out in the wilderness eating strange food, wearing potato sack, you know by the waters. 00:20:45.000 |
Everything that they were trying to do, John the Baptist completely ignores all of that. 00:20:49.000 |
And here's a new religious system starting out there. 00:20:52.000 |
And so when Jesus comes, he doesn't come through the authority of the temple, he comes through the authority of John the Baptist out in the wilderness, this strange guy. 00:21:00.000 |
So right off the bat, they're against John the Baptist. 00:21:04.000 |
And right off the bat, they're against Jesus because Jesus didn't fit what they were pursuing. 00:21:10.000 |
See what happened to the nation of Israel is not like somebody who works so hard and you stayed up all night, you know, to get your project done. 00:21:18.000 |
And then you go and you see that, oh, you didn't get an A, A+. 00:21:22.000 |
You were shooting for the A+, but you got an A. 00:21:25.000 |
That's not what the nation of Israel story of the nation of Israel is. 00:21:29.000 |
The nation of Israel basically is working hard, you know, all their life, obeying the laws. 00:21:36.000 |
And then come to find that not only did you not get an A, you absolutely failed. 00:21:42.000 |
If you look at what happens to Christ, in fact, we take it even further, it's kind of like that guy who worked all his life and then 10 years he fought and then he wins the battle. 00:21:50.000 |
He gets $27 million and he walks on the bridge and he just throws it out. 00:21:56.000 |
Because that's exactly what happened to the nation of Israel. 00:21:59.000 |
They've been waiting for the Messiah, working so hard to get right with God. 00:22:03.000 |
And then when the Messiah came to deliver them, what did they do? 00:22:10.000 |
Because he didn't fit what they were pursuing. 00:22:17.000 |
And he says in verse 18, he said, "You are boasting that you know his will and approve of what is excellent." 00:22:26.000 |
"Ginosko" is the word that we use to describe somebody who comes to know something from experience. 00:22:31.000 |
So I know how to drive a car because I've tested it and I've been driving for a while. 00:22:36.000 |
But I know that the heaven is blue, the sky is blue from observation. 00:22:44.000 |
The word that is used here of their boasting is "ginosko." 00:22:47.000 |
In other words, Paul is not saying that this is their actual relationship with God. 00:22:52.000 |
What they're saying is you're boasting because you think that you have this experience. 00:22:58.000 |
You know what, God revealed himself, we have his law. 00:23:01.000 |
And so because of that we're able to approve what is excellent. 00:23:04.000 |
In other words, if you want to know about God, you need to come to me. 00:23:08.000 |
Because I know the law. I have a special relationship with God. 00:23:14.000 |
He said, "You boast that you know his will and you approve of what is excellent because you are instructed from the law." 00:23:21.000 |
And then he goes on further, because he has this knowledge, he says in verse 19, 00:23:26.000 |
"And if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, 00:23:32.000 |
you are a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish and teacher of the children, 00:23:36.000 |
having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth." 00:23:43.000 |
That's why they had a problem with John the Baptist. 00:23:46.000 |
Because the Pharisees were the ones, supposedly, who knew God. 00:23:51.000 |
They were the ones who were going and giving instructions. 00:23:55.000 |
They were the ones who were rebuking the tax collectors and the prostitutes. 00:24:00.000 |
And if you want to get right with God, you have to follow the Pharisaic way. 00:24:05.000 |
But John the Baptist completely ignores that. Jesus Christ comes and completely ignores that. 00:24:13.000 |
"Not everybody who calls me Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven." 00:24:21.000 |
Jesus says, "You've been running the wrong way the whole time." 00:24:26.000 |
So, I mean, let's be a little bit more sympathetic toward the Pharisees, 00:24:30.000 |
because how many of us, if we were in that situation, would be ready to say, "Oh, okay." 00:24:36.000 |
Right? I mean, isn't it amazing that Jesus would perform all those miracles 00:24:41.000 |
in front of the Pharisees, and yet they would still kill him? 00:24:50.000 |
I mean, didn't they see his miracles? Didn't they see him open the eyes of the blind? 00:24:54.000 |
You would think, again, 2,000 years removed, that would be enough to cause us to repent. 00:25:00.000 |
But what Jesus was saying to the Pharisees was not simply that, 00:25:03.000 |
"You know what? You're doing some things wrong." 00:25:06.000 |
He's saying, "Your whole way of life, everything that you've been taught, 00:25:11.000 |
your hard work, we're not talking about just literal, 00:25:14.000 |
everything that you've been doing to appease God, was wrong. 00:25:24.000 |
So they couldn't fathom it. How could everything that we've been doing wrong, 00:25:27.000 |
all the sacrifices that we've been giving, years of proselytizing, 00:25:34.000 |
fasting every Tuesday and Thursday, that all of that is wrong, 00:25:39.000 |
and it's just testable in the eyes of God. How can that be? 00:25:42.000 |
He has to be demonic, because he can't possibly be speaking the truth, 00:25:51.000 |
So the only explanation is, either he's right and we're completely wrong, 00:25:58.000 |
or he must be demonic. And that's what they concluded. 00:26:03.000 |
They refused to repent and see, so therefore, they concluded, 00:26:07.000 |
he must be from the demon. Either I'm doing demonic work, or he's doing demonic work. 00:26:17.000 |
The purpose of the law was to bring them low, 00:26:22.000 |
so they can have a vision of Christ, so that when this humbled Messiah came, 00:26:26.000 |
that they would recognize, finally our Savior is here. 00:26:31.000 |
Instead, because they were elevated, they could only recognize somebody 00:26:37.000 |
So when Jesus came humbled, gentle, and meek, it didn't fit. 00:26:52.000 |
A proud Christian is an oxymoron. I don't care how much you pray, 00:26:55.000 |
I don't care how much you give, I don't care how disciplined you are, 00:26:58.000 |
or how many experiences you have, a proud Christian is an oxymoron. 00:27:03.000 |
Yesterday we had the Reformation night, and the theme of it was "Sola Gratia." 00:27:10.000 |
So, Protestant Reformation, part of it, at the core of it, 00:27:19.000 |
The only reason why we didn't understand His Word is by the grace of God. 00:27:22.000 |
So you and I recognize and celebrate that we were dead in our trespasses, 00:27:27.000 |
God in His mercy, by the shedding of Jesus' blood, 00:27:35.000 |
And then, can you imagine, a proud Christian is somebody who is yanked 00:27:40.000 |
out of the water by the grace of God, and he's standing on the boat like this. 00:27:47.000 |
And he's looking at everybody else, like, "Yeah, look at me. 00:27:59.000 |
Why aren't you in the boat? Why aren't you doing this?" 00:28:03.000 |
I mean, that's what a proud Christian looks like. 00:28:06.000 |
Somebody who's standing in this posture is like, 00:28:14.000 |
And Kobe makes the shot, and they win the championship, 00:28:23.000 |
That is a posture of somebody who just did something fantastic 00:28:30.000 |
But a Christian who comes to declare and embrace 00:28:36.000 |
that I couldn't possibly will myself to come closer to God, 00:28:41.000 |
and by His mercy, He yanked us out of the water, 00:28:48.000 |
only by the grace of God that we will be glorified. 00:28:50.000 |
And then to stand the whole time standing is like, 00:28:53.000 |
"Well, now what's wrong with you? Why don't you do what I do?" 00:29:02.000 |
You see, this nation of Israel, the more they obeyed the law, 00:29:06.000 |
the more righteous and self-righteous they became, 00:29:10.000 |
and that's why they missed the humbled Messiah. 00:29:14.000 |
And that's why He kept on saying, "I didn't come to heal you physically. 00:29:17.000 |
I'm only healing you physically because I want you to recognize 00:29:23.000 |
is to save you from your sin, which you have no power to do anything about." 00:29:33.000 |
"There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination." 00:29:38.000 |
Those of you who have never read or seen that way of saying things, 00:29:48.000 |
It's a literary style to put emphasis, just like when Jesus says, 00:29:56.000 |
He's not stuttering. It's a way of putting emphasis. 00:30:02.000 |
So, when He says, "There are six things that God detests, 00:30:04.000 |
seven things that the Lord hates," it's for the purpose of emphasis. 00:30:09.000 |
So, in these things, He says, "Lying tongue, shedding innocent blood, 00:30:18.000 |
Like He's sitting there and thinking about wicked things to do. 00:30:24.000 |
And He's eager to do evil things, and He knows it. 00:30:27.000 |
"False witness who breathes out lies, deliberately lying to destroy someone, 00:30:32.000 |
and one who shows discord among his brothers." 00:30:38.000 |
We're talking about someone eager to do wickedness. 00:30:41.000 |
And among all of that, you know what is on the top of that list? 00:30:54.000 |
Pride is above somebody who's devising to do evil, 00:30:59.000 |
who's deliberately slandering somebody to destroy somebody. 00:31:05.000 |
Because at the core heart of human rebellion is pride. 00:31:14.000 |
Who was the most perfect creature that was created? 00:31:35.000 |
in the context of pursuing righteousness is ruined. 00:31:46.000 |
It says in verse 21, "You then who teach others, 00:31:57.000 |
You know, a lamp is something that you put up 00:32:00.000 |
A flashlight you put, and you're always pointing it at people. 00:32:10.000 |
You who are constantly teaching other people, 00:32:15.000 |
While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 00:32:18.000 |
You who say that one must not commit adultery, 00:32:22.000 |
Imagine a Jew hearing this, Pharisee hearing this. 00:32:34.000 |
To get a better understanding, look with me to Matthew chapter 23. 00:32:42.000 |
Jesus gives a summary of his indictment against these Pharisees. 00:32:54.000 |
He says, "They do all their deeds to be seen by others, 00:32:57.000 |
for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long." 00:33:01.000 |
And that's basically a summary of their self-righteousness, their sin. 00:33:06.000 |
He said, "Everything that they do, they do it for other people to see." 00:33:10.000 |
And then he goes into a little bit of detail in verse 11, 00:33:13.000 |
he says, "The greatest among you shall be your servant. 00:33:17.000 |
and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." 00:33:21.000 |
And that was the core of the sin of the Pharisees. 00:33:24.000 |
They thought that this pursuit of obedience to the commandment 00:33:31.000 |
And Jesus says, "No, God intended to humble you through that." 00:33:40.000 |
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites." 00:33:42.000 |
And the hypocrite basically is somebody whose presentation 00:33:47.000 |
How people view them and who they are internally, 00:33:50.000 |
where people can't see, are two different people. 00:33:54.000 |
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, 00:33:57.000 |
for you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces, 00:33:59.000 |
for you neither enter yourself nor allow those who would enter to go." 00:34:03.000 |
In other words, what you share and the disciples that you make, 00:34:08.000 |
every disciple you make will not be in the kingdom either, 00:34:11.000 |
because all you are reproducing are more hypocrites. 00:34:14.000 |
Verse 15, "Woe to you, scribes and you Pharisees, 00:34:17.000 |
for you travel across sea and land to make single proselytes, 00:34:20.000 |
and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much 00:34:27.000 |
You think you do. You're bragging that you do, 00:34:34.000 |
'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, 00:34:37.000 |
but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, 00:34:43.000 |
Your priorities are based upon what you value, 00:34:47.000 |
So the gold is precious, but the temple is nothing. 00:34:50.000 |
Verse 23, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, 00:34:56.000 |
and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, 00:35:01.000 |
They focus their energy in tithing these things. 00:35:04.000 |
You know what mint, dill, and cumin, these are little spices 00:35:09.000 |
It's kind of like, you know, yesterday we had the Reformation 00:35:12.000 |
night and all the children got their candy and they went home, 00:35:14.000 |
and if you were a Pharisee, you would have counted the candies, 00:35:23.000 |
That you're so committed to keeping the law that you would 00:35:27.000 |
tithe these things, but when it comes to the weightier law 00:35:35.000 |
The things that are important to you are only things that can be 00:35:39.000 |
but the things that can't be measured, that are internal, 00:35:43.000 |
Now he's not saying there was something wrong with the tithing. 00:35:45.000 |
He said you should have done one without neglecting the other. 00:35:50.000 |
Verse 25, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, 00:35:53.000 |
for you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, 00:35:55.000 |
but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence." 00:36:00.000 |
Now, how many of you, when you wash a cup, look at it, 00:36:16.000 |
It may look ugly on the cover, and it may look dirty, 00:36:21.000 |
But he's basically saying all you care about is the presentation, 00:36:26.000 |
You just make it look good so that when guests come 00:36:28.000 |
and look at the cupboard, it's like, "Oh, nice and clean." 00:36:36.000 |
There's all kinds of articles, some for noble, 00:36:46.000 |
The ignoble things in our lives are almost always unseen. 00:36:51.000 |
It's a bitterness, hatred, coveting, self-righteousness, 00:37:02.000 |
inward things that we never present when we come to church. 00:37:13.000 |
If you cuss at church, something's really wrong. 00:37:18.000 |
You're just like, "I don't care what people think." 00:37:22.000 |
Most people are self-aware enough that you're going to 00:37:32.000 |
But the thing that is eating away at us inwardly, 00:37:48.000 |
How come you're always quoting Scripture to other people, 00:37:51.000 |
but you never share about how you're broken for your sins? 00:37:56.000 |
What are the sins that you're wrestling with? 00:37:59.000 |
You teach others. Why don't you teach yourself? 00:38:01.000 |
Why do you preach against stealing? Do you steal? 00:38:06.000 |
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, 00:38:20.000 |
they thought that one of the worst sacrilegious things 00:38:24.000 |
that they could do is to step into a cemetery 00:38:26.000 |
and have some sort of contact with a dead person, 00:38:31.000 |
So in order to prevent them from becoming unclean, 00:38:39.000 |
And all of that so that they can obey the law. 00:38:42.000 |
And extra, took extra steps to make sure that they're righteous. 00:38:46.000 |
And they cleaned it on, so what Jesus is saying is, 00:38:49.000 |
on the surface you're beautifying, and it looks beautiful. 00:38:57.000 |
And you think you're so pure because you didn't go there. 00:39:04.000 |
Outwardly, beautiful presentation, but inwardly, 00:39:10.000 |
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, 00:39:17.000 |
saying that those are the people, those are our heroes, 00:39:20.000 |
saying if we had lived in the days of our fathers, 00:39:26.000 |
And they look at the sins of their forefathers, 00:39:30.000 |
we're in our situation because of what they did. 00:39:40.000 |
If those prophets were here today, you would be stoning them too. 00:39:46.000 |
They thought it was them. The sin is out there. 00:39:49.000 |
And that's why Jesus says it's not what you put in, 00:39:59.000 |
See, all the law did to them is to build them up. 00:40:14.000 |
To live every single day frustrated with everybody else, 00:40:28.000 |
knows just how far we are from God's righteousness. 00:40:33.000 |
Somebody who just kind of says, "I'll live holy." 00:40:35.000 |
Okay, I'll live holy. Then, you know, Sunday I won't put gas in, 00:40:38.000 |
I won't watch certain movies. Okay, I've done it. 00:40:48.000 |
coming before God and saying, "Search me and know me. 00:40:56.000 |
You know just how far and desperate we are from God. 00:41:00.000 |
And why only by the grace of God can we get to Heaven. 00:41:05.000 |
You know, years ago I told you that, you know, 00:41:08.000 |
I was heavily involved with homeless ministry. 00:41:11.000 |
I thought we were going to be doing homeless ministry. 00:41:14.000 |
So at that point, the earlier part of my ministry, 00:41:26.000 |
You know, I really thought that that's what I was going to do. 00:41:31.000 |
- Excuse me. We need everybody to move their cars 00:41:34.000 |
in front of their garages because we can't get our cars out. 00:41:40.000 |
If you guys have a car parked outside in front of the garage, 00:41:53.000 |
I'm pretty sure there's not one. There's more. 00:42:27.000 |
I was determined that I'm going to bring revival. 00:42:32.000 |
You know, I'm going to do everything in my power. 00:42:37.000 |
not because God gave me a calling for the homeless ministry, 00:42:40.000 |
Because I was looking at scripture and God said, 00:42:44.000 |
here's true religion to look out for orphans and widows. 00:42:59.000 |
we're going to be living with homeless people. 00:43:01.000 |
And at that time she had no idea what she was talking about. 00:43:07.000 |
She said, she would say, ah, let me think about it. 00:43:14.000 |
we actually had homeless people at our house, you know, 00:43:22.000 |
We would go witnessing two, three, four times a week. 00:43:57.000 |
and discipleship, I mean, we did all of that. 00:44:12.000 |
how committed they were to this homeless ministry. 00:44:17.000 |
and if they didn't have a heart for homeless ministry, 00:44:19.000 |
I'd say, "Ugh, you know, that's not true religion. 00:44:24.000 |
"All they do is like, you know, outside and inside. 00:44:29.000 |
And I would try to collect offering for the homeless, 00:44:33.000 |
"All they care is about the outside building." 00:44:37.000 |
They want to be in a nice air-conditioned room, 00:44:43.000 |
And I measured everybody based upon what I'm good at, 00:44:49.000 |
If you didn't do what I was doing, you were wrong. 00:44:58.000 |
you're frustrated with people who don't pray. 00:45:01.000 |
If you happen to be one of those people who love studying, 00:45:04.000 |
you're like, "Everybody, you don't study the Bible? 00:45:09.000 |
If you happen to be one of those people who read a lot of books, 00:45:24.000 |
it's not the reading, it's not the homeless ministry, 00:45:26.000 |
it's not the praying, there's nothing wrong with that. 00:45:38.000 |
it's not that they wanted to keep the law, that that was wrong. 00:45:44.000 |
they got filled with pride and thought that they were somehow 00:45:46.000 |
closer to God than everybody else, instead of humbling them. 00:45:57.000 |
True worship happens when we're in the presence of something beyond us. 00:46:02.000 |
And we are floored, and we forget about ourselves. 00:46:09.000 |
We forget all the righteous deeds that we've done. 00:46:11.000 |
We forget all the good things, all the fruits. 00:46:13.000 |
We forget all of that, and we are lost in Christ. 00:46:27.000 |
and then come to the throne of grace, and he says, 00:46:36.000 |
He says, "All of this was to bring us to Christ." 00:46:40.000 |
All of the Old Testament, all of the prophets, all of the laws, 00:46:44.000 |
all of the sacrifices, everything Jesus said, 00:46:48.000 |
everything the prophets said, every prophecy that is given, 00:46:51.000 |
all of it was given to us to bring us to Christ. 00:46:58.000 |
So if at the end of the day, you come to church year after year, 00:47:03.000 |
and you go out to missions, and you serve, and you read the Bible, 00:47:09.000 |
you lead small group, and you did all of that, 00:47:19.000 |
You are guilty of the same sin of the Pharisees. 00:47:27.000 |
Not to make a stack of things to stand on to look at the world, 00:47:37.000 |
"If you want to come after me, you must pick up your cross." 00:47:39.000 |
He is not simply telling us to do hard things. 00:47:48.000 |
When he says to come, "Follow me," and pick up your cross, 00:47:55.000 |
all that effort to display your righteousness, 00:47:58.000 |
all that effort to do something and say, "Hey, look what I have done." 00:48:24.000 |
Have you ever met a human being that loved you like Jesus loves you? 00:48:42.000 |
The God of the universe would forsake his glory, 00:48:51.000 |
And he turned around and he said, "You, follow me." 00:49:08.000 |
So I want to encourage us this morning as we come before the Lord in prayer, 00:49:16.000 |
and we honestly pray, "Lord, search me and know me. 00:49:28.000 |
Is there self-righteousness in me that's blinding me 00:49:40.000 |
Let's take a few minutes as the praise team leads us 00:49:42.000 |
to take some time to reflect and to pray before the Lord.