Reaching Out to the Religious

If you have your Bible, turn to me to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. And let's say that today you were invited to lunch. And you were invited to lunch with a prominent individual in a religious system. Maybe it was someone high up in Mormonism. Someone high up in the Catholic Church. Someone high up in Judaism. Someone high up in the Jehovah's Witness religion. Maybe somebody in Buddhism. Somebody who is high up. And you were invited to come to their house for lunch. How is it you would act? And what would you say when you went to lunch with that individual?

Well, in case you were wondering, Jesus sets an example. For how you are to act when you go to eat with someone who is committed to religion. Someone who is devoutly committed to their morality. To what it is they believe is the truth. This is Jesus. Invited to lunch. And what happens? Luke 11, verse number 37. Now when he had spoken, a Pharisee asked him to have lunch with him. And he went in and reclined at the table. And when the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that he had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.

But the Lord said to him, And now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter. But inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. You foolish ones. Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give that which is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you. But woe to you Pharisees. For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb and yet disregard justice and the love of God. But these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

Woe to you Pharisees. For you love the front seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you. For you are like concealed tombs and the people who walk over them are unaware of it. That is the conversation that Jesus has with the Pharisee. The Pharisee doesn't really say anything. Because Jesus has everything to say. It sounds a little harsh, doesn't it? Woe to you. Be cursed, you Pharisee. Woe to you again. It seems like Jesus would be a little more friendly when invited to someone's house for lunch.

You think that he would look at it as an opportunity to befriend one of these religious leaders. And then thus ease him in to the gospel presentation. You'd think that's what Jesus would do because that's what we've been taught to do in our churches. And so we think that that's what Jesus did. On the contrary. Jesus never did those kinds of things. In fact, there is a Jesus in the scriptures that most of us don't even know. A number of years ago John MacArthur wrote a book called The Jesus You Can't Ignore.

And in it he talks about Christ and his presentation of the truth to religious people. Specifically to the Jews. And talks about how he with supreme harshness confronts the religion of his day. In fact, he says these words. He says the contemporary craving for shallow sermons that please and entertain. Is at least partly rooted in the popular myth that Jesus himself was always likable. Agreeable, winsome, and at the cutting edge of his culture's fashions. The domesticated, meek, and mild savior of today's Sunday school literature.

Would never knowingly or deliberately offend someone in a sermon, would he? Even a cursory look at Jesus' preaching ministry reveals a totally different picture.

Jesus' sermons usually featured hard truths, harsh words, and high octane controversy. His own disciples complained that his preaching was too hard to hear. That's why Jesus' preaching has the list of things that make him impossible to ignore. No preacher has ever been more bold, prophetic, or provocative. No style of public ministry could possibly be more irksome to those who prefer a comfortable religion. Jesus made it impossible for any hearer to walk away indifferent. Some left angry. Some deeply troubled by what he had to say.

Many had their eyes opened and many more hardened their hearts against his message. Some became his disciples and others became his adversaries. But no one who listened to him preach for very long could possibly remain unchanged or apathetic. The Jesus we can't ignore. The Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus that came and presented the truth because he was the embodiment of truth. So because he was truth, because he preached truth, he had no tolerance for those who did not believe in absolutes. He had no tolerance for those who wanted to live a pleasing lifestyle compromising what it is they believed.

No, Jesus lived the truth. He spoke the truth. And he wanted those who heard him to understand nothing but the truth. If it offended them, it offended them. In fact, next week we will see in verse 45, And one of the lawyers said to him, evidently the lawyer was there, and replied, Teacher, when you say this, you insult us too. In other words, we're insulted by what you have to say. When was the last time you insulted somebody when you spoke? Not because you were an angry person, or not because you were a sinful person, Or not because you wanted to be insulting.

Just because you spoke the truth, you insulted those who heard. See, we don't want to do that. Jesus wanted to do that. Because he didn't want anybody to be left in the dark as to what the truth really is. And so he would speak that truth. He knew that religious teaching, contrary to the truth, Does not come down from heaven, but comes up from hell. He knew that. He knew that that supposed truth, that was steeped in religiosity, That came up from hell, would destroy the soul of a man. And he came to seek and to save that which was lost.

He was concerned about the destiny of man. He was concerned about the soul and heart of a man. Of all the evil, of all the sin, the worst of all is a false religion. The worst of all is a religion that gives people the illusion that they're going to heaven. When in reality, they have no idea what it means to get there. The Jewish leaders were people who perverted the teachings of the Old Testament. They were the ones who denied Jesus as the Messiah. They were the ones who were completely blinded from the truth.

In fact, the whole section we're looking at in Luke 11, Begins with Jesus casting out a demon from a man. And they attributing that casting work to Satan and not to the Lord God of the universe. They just said that the things that Jesus does, he does by the power of Beelzebul. That was the commentary on Jesus. That was the final verdict on Jesus. That was their summation of his ministry. They were spiritually blind to the truth. And so Jesus called them a wicked generation. An evil generation. Simply because of the perversion of their religion and their rejection of their Redeemer.

They were a wicked generation. Hell would be hotter for them than for the immoral and irreligious people. He sent his disciples out back in Luke chapter 10, To make sure that people understood the truth. And in it, he said, verse 10 of Luke 10, But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, Go out into its streets and say, Even the dust of your city, which clings to our feet, We wipe off in protest against you. Yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near. I say to you, it will be more tolerable in the day for Sodom than for that city.

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, which occurred in you, They would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades. The one who listens to you listens to me. And the one who rejects you rejects me. And he who rejects me rejects the one who sent me. Jesus wanted it to be very clearly understood.

That if you hear the truth and you refuse to obey the truth, And you attribute that truth to something other than the true God of the universe, Your hell will be hotter for you than the most immoral, most debauched person of Sodom. Because you rejected that which is the truth. And it's been clearly presented to you. Religion, contrary to popular demand, is not a virtue. It is a vice. Religion and all of its trappings is more dangerous than anything else. Because religion is steeped in ritualism. It's steeped in the externals.

It's steeped on the things dealing with the outside. But not dealing with that which is on the inside. In fact, religion is not an assent to God. It's a descent from God. That's what Paul said in Romans chapter 1. As he would describe those who would create a God in their own image. Because they refused to worship the true God. Jesus would say to those religious leaders in Matthew chapter 23, verse number 15. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte.

And when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. You and your religion, as it goes about from land to sea. Looking to make proselytes, making followers of you. You end up making people twice the sons of hell as yourselves. And over in verse number 33 he says, you serpents, you brood of vipers. How shall you escape the sentence of hell? He would speak against those in a religious system. And he would use the harshest words possible. Because he needed them to see the condition of their souls.

So that they would fall at the foot of a cross and beg his forgiveness. But those in religion, a religious system, don't want to see themselves as sinners. That's why all of the symbolism that they have is accentuated. You will note that in every religious system, there are all kinds of trappings and symbols. And outer aspects that seem to be multiplied over and over and over again. Because they have to camouflage what's really in the soul. And through all the outer trappings, they can begin to numb themselves to really what's taking place on the inside.

Well Christ knows that, and so he attacks that. So we're going to begin by looking at the invitation. Because believe it or not, after Christ calls them a wicked generation. Telling them that they have all the light to see, but they're blind from that light. He's still invited to lunch. So we're going to look at the invitation.

And then we'll look at the confrontation, because the Pharisee really never has a chance to speak. I mean after all, Jesus is a preacher, right? And preachers don't like to let other people speak. That's why they're called preachers, they like to speak. And so that's what Jesus did. And then we'll look at the repercussion that Jesus addresses with this man.

First of all, the invitation. Now when he had spoken, a Pharisee asked him to have lunch with him. Now he was a Pharisee. He was a religious man. He was committed to the Old Testament. He, in his own mind, loved God. Right? He, in his own mind, loved the law of God. He would love it so much that he would carry it on his being. In little phylacteries that they would have around their wrists and around their head. Because they wanted everybody to know how committed they were to the law of God. This was a Pharisee.

There were around 6,000 of them during the time of Christ. They were not lawyers, they were not scribes, they were not priests. They were Pharisees, they were laymen. They were laymen. And they were supremely committed to the law of God. They were devout people. Yet, the ironic thing is that Jesus could not identify with those Pharisees who loved his law. In fact, he could better identify with the prostitute and the riffraff and the tax gatherer. The adulterer, the murderer. He could better identify with them because he did not come to call the righteous, but the sinner.

To repentance. Those who knew they needed a savior. Those who knew that they were corrupt and corroded on the inside. Those who knew that they were destined to hell. Christ could identify with them, but for those who thought themselves to be worthy, to those who thought themselves to be good, and somehow attain a grand status with the Lord God of the universe, Christ did not come to call them because they were unable to see their true condition. So Jesus is invited to lunch. This man's religion had blinded him to the truth.

This man's religion had covered his eyes to the reality of where he was. That is, separated from the true God of the universe. And Jesus would speak against the games that these Pharisees played. Because they would create this illusion that they were right with God. They played the hypocrite. They wanted everybody to think they were holy. They wanted everybody to think that they were pure. They wanted everybody to think that they were true. Because that just enhanced their illusion that they were right before God.

In fact, over in Matthew chapter 23, verse number 13, Jesus says, But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.

Verse 15, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Verse 23, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Verse 25, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Verse 27, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Verse 29, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. think they would get the message? I mean, if he repeats it that often, you'd think that they would finally come to the conclusion that they were playing a game, that they were trying to create this illusion that they were better than they really were.

But they never got it. They really were so convinced by their religious system that they were right with God, even though God said they weren't right with him. When he had spoken, the Pharisee asked him to have lunch with him. What an invitation. What an opportunity. You think, wow, man, Jesus has the opportunity to sit down with a guy and just really, you know, snuggle up next to him and just give him a word of love and a word of comfort and a word of joy. But he gave him the direct opposite, didn't he?

You'd think he'd be a little bit more friendly, our Jesus. You'd think he'd at least be a little bit more thankful that someone invited him to lunch. He didn't have very many friends anyway. So you'd think that, gee, at least somebody invited me to lunch today. But that's just not the way Jesus is. Time is short for him. He's coming to an end of his ministry. He's going to die. And he wanted the truth to be spoken. And he more desperately wanted the truth to be heard and accepted and believed. So he never missed an opportunity.

How many opportunities do we miss every day, right? Oh, we just miss the opportunities. Do we think we're going to live forever? The guy next to us is going to live forever until there's a tragedy or a death or a shooting. Next thing we know, our life has been snuffed out. We stand before the Lord God of the universe. Life really is short. Bible says it's a vapor. It's like the grass withers away. It's here today, gone tomorrow, never lasts forever. Jesus understood that better than anybody else did.

He never missed an opportunity. And so he would go and he would talk to this man. And of course, verse 53 gives us a summation that says in verse 53 of Luke 11, and when he had left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question him closely on many subjects, plotting against him to catch him in something he might say. That was their conclusion. That's how they viewed Jesus. They didn't like him. They hated him. Let's be honest. They attributed what he did to Satan. I mean, that's not what you do to your friends, right?

They hated him. And they looked for ways to catch him. So they had to end up making up stories and lies at the end to somehow convince the Roman government to crucify him because they hated him so very, very much. The Jesus that you love and I love, the Jesus that we adore, the Jesus that we just love to worship is the Jesus that was despised, hated and rejected. Listen carefully. Mostly by the religious people of his day. See, we want to befriend the religious. And some of us say, you know, shouldn't we respect their religion?

Oh, on the contrary. You should always honor the truth, revere the truth, support the truth, but never respect someone else's religion. Because that in turn condones what they believe. And what do they believe? A lie. That's from not heaven, but hell. And leading people not to heaven, but to hell. And as Jesus said, you make them twice the sons of hell that you are. Never respect someone because of their religious beliefs. Always revere the truth and speak forth the truth. So people will know what the Bible really truly says.

Which leads us to the confrontation. And there are five things that Jesus confronts in this man's religion. Five things that he confronts. It's like when he goes into the house, he doesn't have small talk. You know, Jesus never had small talk with somebody. He always got down to brass tacks. He got down to where the rubber meets the road. And so the very first thing he did was offend the Pharisee.

He went right into the house and offended the Pharisee in terms of what he believed. Listen to what the text says. He says, and he went in, reclined at the table, and when the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that he had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.

The very first thing that Jesus confronted was his ceremonialism. Now this isn't about dirty hands, okay? You know, your kids come in from outside playing. What do you tell them? Wash your hands before you eat. Why? Their hands are filthy. This is about ceremonialism. This is about tradition. And the Mishnah had a prescribed way in which you would purify yourself. Because the Jews, if they touched the Gentile, they were unclean. If a Gentile touched them, they were unclean. If they touched something that a Gentile touched, they were unclean.

Can you imagine living like that? That's how they lived. So they would go through this ritual, and they would, the Mishnah prescribes that you had to take water, no more than one and a half, one and a half sizes of an eggshell filled with water. And you would hold your hand up, and you would take that little portion of water and pour it over the fingers, and it would run down your hand over your wrist, which would be a traditional purifying way that leaders of Israel cleansed themselves from the filthiness of the Gentile world.

Well, Jesus didn't do that. He purposely would not engage in the ceremonialism of the Jewish religion, because it meant nothing. I mean, you really think you can cleanse yourself by doing that? That somehow that gave you a purity before others, because you have a prescribed tradition that ceremonially cleansed you? So Jesus, the very first thing he does, he just goes in, reclines at the table, and does not go through the purification process, the ceremonialism of the day.

And the Pharisee is surprised that this Jew, this rabbi, this teacher, would not do what all the other Jews do, who are committed to a purification process. Jesus never succumbed to the tradition of the religion of his day. In fact, over in Matthew chapter 15, Matthew 15, verse number 1, then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying, Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. That's the ceremonial cleansing.

And he answered and said to them, And why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? Christ turns the table on them. He says, Bag your tradition. What about the truth of what God's Word actually says? You nullified the command of God in order to fulfill your tradition. You are the one at fault, not the disciples. And so the very first thing that Jesus does is confront this individual's ceremonialism.

See, false religion loves the symbolic. They do. They love the symbols. They love the externals. They love the things that show religion. And Jesus came and spoke against that. So he confronted, number one, the ceremonialism.

And number two, he confronted their externalism. Their externalism. Now, remember, the man doesn't say anything to Jesus. There's no record of him having a conversation with Jesus. He's just surprised as to what Jesus does. But Jesus is omniscient. He knows what the guy's thinking. Can you imagine having Jesus to your house for lunch? I mean, he knows exactly what you're thinking. And so remember, Jesus said, There will be no sign given to you. They demanded a sign. He said, No, no sign is going to be given to you.

But the sign of Jonah, we talked about that the last couple of weeks, it's a sign of the death and resurrection of Christ. That was the final warning, the final sign. But in doing so, Christ would demonstrate his omniscience, that he would know what the guy was thinking. If I'm sitting there, I'm thinking, How does he know what I'm thinking? How does he know what I believe? That would absolutely terrify me. But it never terrified the Pharisees. It never terrified those who are committed to the religious system.

They just went on as if it meant nothing. But he knew what the man was thinking. So he says these words, Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. Wow. You do everything on the outside, but not on the inside. I mean, you know, if you pull your dishes out of the dishwasher, right? And you still have some of the frosted flakes baked on to the inside of the, of the, of the dish. You don't want to eat the dish. Do you?

No matter what the outside looks like, right? Sometimes when you put them in the dishwasher, they kind of get stuck together and, and the outside gets clean, but the inside is not clean. You don't want to eat out of that dish. I don't want to eat out of that dish. So you rewash it because the inside is not clean. And Jesus says, you're just concerned about the externals.

You're, you're so concerned about cleaning the outside of the cup, you forget about the inside. And what's on the inside is robbery. What's on the inside is wickedness. You're bad to the bone. You're bad all the way to your inner core. You are a robber. You are a raper of man's souls. You robbed them from the truth. You robbed them from that, which is, is, is going to clearly present to them the way to heaven. You robbed them of, of the beauty of, of the law of God and the, and the purpose of the law.

You robbed them of all those things because you raped their souls, because on the depths of your inner being, you are a wicked, evil person. Wow. You'd think the Pharisee would kick them out by then. Get out of here. How dare you come into my house, eat my food, and talk to me that way. But Jesus doesn't give him a chance to respond. Jesus goes at him like, like with a machine gun. I mean, man, he just can't, he's just slammed up against the wall. He confronts his ceremonialism. He confronts his externalism.

And then he confronts his intellectualism. He says, verse 40, you foolish ones. See, they thought they were the wise ones. They thought they were the ones with the wisdom. They thought they were the ones who knew God. They thought everybody else was, was secondary to them, below them, beneath them, because they didn't have the intellect that they had. And Jesus says, you're a fool.

You are a fool. And some of you are thinking, wait a minute, didn't Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount say, you're not to call somebody else a fool? He did say that. Unless, of course, they are fools. And don't you think that Jesus would know if someone was a fool or not? I would think so. I mean, he is God in the flesh. He is omniscient. We know that Simeon said that he will reveal the hearts and thoughts of man in Luke chapter 2. We know that in John chapter 2, that Jesus didn't have to tell somebody what was in man, because he already knew what was in the heart of man.

I mean, talk about knowing something. Jesus knows everything. Jesus never needed anybody to inform him about something. He just knows it. He knows how many hair are on your head. He knows it, not because he counted them. Because if he had to count them, that means there was a time he didn't know how much hair you had. He just knows. That's baffling, isn't it? He just knows because he's God. He knows everything. And so he confronts his intellectualism. You think that you are a wise man. You are foolish ones.

Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? Are you a fool? Don't you know that the Lord God, who created you, not only created the outside, he created the inside. And he's committed to the inside. All you got to do is read the Psalms. What did David say? Created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. David knew that his sin came from the inside of him. He didn't blame anybody because of his sin. Why? Because he knew that everything he did sinful came from the inside of his being.

In sin did my mother conceive me. Never once did he say, you know what? Bathsheba, it was her. If she wouldn't have been out on the rooftop, I would not have sinned. He never said that because he knew it was his lust. It was his sinful passion that led him to commit a sin. He never one time blamed anybody else because a true repentant heart never ever blames somebody else for their sin. And the Pharisees would always blame someone else if there was a problem. Jesus says, you foolish, foolish one.

Don't you know that the Lord God, the one who created the outside, created the inside too? You know, all you have to do is read the Old Testament, read the Psalms, and realize that everything is about the inward part of a man. That's what needs to be cleansed. And you can't do that. You can't touch that. You can't get in there and scrub it. Oh, you can clean the outside. You can put all the religious trappings on the outside. You can look good. You can seem good. You can smell good. You can act good.

But you're not good. You're wicked. You're a robber. You're evil. You are bad to the bone. You're bad deeper than your bones. You're just evil. You're depraved. You foolish ones. Wow. Romans 2, verses 17 and following, Christ indicts the Pharisees because of what they believed. He indicts them because they thought they were the ones who had the light and they were to give guide to those who were blind, but they themselves were blind. They had the law. They had it. God didn't give the law to the Gentile nations.

He gave it to the nation of Israel. He gave it to them. They had the law and they misread the law. They misinterpreted the law. They reinvented the law. They redefined the law to fit their circumstances to make themselves look good. That's why Jesus said, you have heard that it was said by the agents of old, but I say to you, he said that over and over again in Matthew chapter five, he said, this is what you've been taught by your rabbis, but you know what? They're wrong. Let me tell you what it really means.

You've heard that it was said, don't murder. I say to you, if you hate your brother, you are a murderer. You've heard that ever said, don't commit adultery, but I say to you, if you lust after a woman in your heart, you've already committed adultery. You're all guilty. He says, every one of you are. And yet they would refuse to admit their sin and their guilt. And thus they were condemned. And because of their willful rejection, they, because they would not see, God said, now you cannot see because you will not hear.

You now cannot hear because you will not believe. You will never believe. He confirmed them in their rejection because they refuse to believe that which was right before them. This is our savior. This is our Lord, our Messiah, our King. This is what he did when he went to lunch. A lot different than when we go to lunch with somebody who's unsaved, isn't it? Because Jesus knew time was short. The truth needed to be presented. He said in verse 41, but give that which is within as charity and that all things are clean for you.

In other words, give of your heart, give of your heart. You do things for people, but it's not because you do it from the inside out. You do it to gain some kind of recognition, some kind of approval. You do it from the inside out. Do it from that which is on the inside. And thus you would have proven yourselves to truly have been clean before the Lord God. But you can't do that because you're not clean. So he confronts the ceremonialism. He confronts their externalism. He confronts their intellectualism.

And then he confronts their trivialism. Their trivialism. Listen to this. But woe to you Pharisees. That's a word of condemnation. It's another word for curse. You're cursed. He pronounces a judgment on them. Woe to you Pharisees. For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb and yet disregard justice and the love of God. In other words, you're doing things that are so trivial. Do you know that the Jewish Mishnah has said that you cannot pay tithe on the rue, on the garden plant, on the herb.

You can't do that. Israel was committed to three tithes. Okay. They gave a tithe every year of the oil, the grain, the wheat to the Levites. Okay. They gave a tenth of all that they had so they would save up for the festivals that they would celebrate. A national tithe. And then every three years they would give a tenth of what they had to the poor, to the widows, to the orphans. That was prescribed tithe for Israel. But you see they went beyond that. And they would pay tithe on the things that didn't matter.

It was trivial. It meant nothing. Oh but they loved to focus on the trivial. The things that don't matter. The minor details of life. And they thought that once they did that would prove them to be religious. That would prove them to be right with God. Everybody would ooh and aww at their externals. At their emphasis on that which is trivial. And they confronted their trivialism. He said very simply this. Woe to you Pharisees for you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of gardener and yet disregard justice and the love of God.

I mean everything is about the love of God right? Hear oh Israel. The Lord your God is one. Deuteronomy chapter 6. For you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your... They had it on their wrists. They had it around their heads. It would hang down before their eyes. It would hang from their wrists. They had it wherever they went. Oh hear oh Israel. The Lord your God is one. You shall love him with all that you have. And they didn't. They didn't love them with all that they had.

They had forgotten the most basic of all commands. Back in Deuteronomy chapter 10. This is what the Lord requires of you. Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 58. The book of Micah. The book of Amos. All took Israel back to what they were required to do. Oh you know book of Amos what the Lord required of you. To love mercy. To love justice and to walk humbly with your God. They had forgotten all that. So he confronted their trivialism. It's all about the love of God. It's all about the commitment to God.

And thus from that love of God love your fellow man. You really can't love your fellow man unless you are really truly right with God and you went to love him right. And so Christ took him back. You forgot the most basic of all that I require. All I require is that you love me. That's all I want. That you love me with all that you have. That you give yourself to me. The externals. The ceremonies. The symbols. The trivial. It means nothing. You see that's what you focus on. That's what means everything to you.

It means nothing to me. That which means something to me you have forgotten. And then he confronts them on their egotism or their elitism. Listen to this. Woe to you Pharisees. For you love the front seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the marketplaces. You love the front seats. You love to sit down front. That's not a view. You folks don't like to sit down front. Boy they did man. They love to sit down front in the synagogue and they love the respectful greetings in the marketplace.

Oh Rabbi. Oh it's so good to see you. Oh Mr. Pharisee. Oh they love the titles. They loved them. I never understood people who like well you know my name is Dr. So and So.

Who cares? Does anybody really care? You do but nobody else does. See they just love the titles that people would give them. In fact over in Matthew 23 Christ says this in verse number 5.

He says, But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men. For they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. And they love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues. The respectful greetings in the marketplaces and being called by men Rabbi. But do not be called Rabbi for one is your teacher and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father for one is your father he who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders for one is your leader that is Christ.

But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. They loved the chief seats. They loved the place of prominence. They loved to be noticed. And that's what led to everything that they did. The ceremonialism, the externalism, the ritualism, the trivialism, the intellectualism. All that led to their elitism. Oh, look at us.

It fed their pride. It fed their vanity. Oh, they just wanted to be recognized by man. Because in that recognition it would numb the true condition of their soul. And they would say, yeah, you know, I am good. I've done pretty good with myself. Look at my life.

I'm okay. And that only leads you to a deeper and hotter hell. And the Lord knows that. In fact, over in John 5, verse 44, he says, how can you believe when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? In other words, the reason you know you're not a believer is because you want the glory and recognition of man. For the true believer wants to glorify and honor his God and put him on display. See that? So Jesus has this invitation for lunch. And this Pharisee invites him in, but the Pharisee never has a chance to say anything because he sees that Jesus confronts his ceremonialism.

And before he can speak, Jesus confronts his externalism. Then Jesus confronts his intellectualism. And then he confronts his trivialism. Only to lead him to confront his elitism. Which leads us to point number three, the repercussions.

Listen to this. These are the repercussions of your religion. Here it is. You're like concealed tombs. You're hidden. You see, in Numbers 9 and in Numbers 19, the law was given you could not touch a dead body and you could not even walk over a grave of someone else who's died. Could not do that. Why? If you did, you'd have to go through a purification process that would take you seven days. Okay? Jesus says, you are like concealed tombs.

Everybody who comes in contact with you is defiled and they don't even know it. You are taking people and leading them away from God, leading them into hell, and they don't even know it because they have bought into a religious system that does not proclaim the truth of Almighty God. And the sad thing about it is that the repercussions are far reaching into the hearts and souls of men who have no idea but think that they believe in the right thing. Think that they're going to heaven because they do the symbolic, they do the ritual, they do all the externals, but the inside is still dirty.

And you have defiled them because you're like unhidden tombs underneath the ground. People are coming to you, they're touching you, they're walking all over you, and they are defiled and they don't even know it. That's sad. That's lunch with Jesus. That's the way he did it. And he would grow with increasing intensity in his message. Time was short. See, they didn't love the Lord. They thought they did. They thought that all the external things they did was symbolic of their love, but it wasn't. Because their hearts weren't clean.

My friend, Jesus is the only one who can clean the inside of you. He's the only one who can take your sin and wipe it clean and wash it all away. But see, Jesus did all this because the man needed to face his true condition. He was unwilling to do so, but he needed to face his true condition. So that he could fall at the foot of the cross and beg for mercy and beg for forgiveness. But he never got there. Because he was blinded by his own religion. See? That's why it's so important for you when someone presents the gospel for you to say, or the people you present the gospel to, to come to a point where they realize that there is nothing good in them.

They are wretched, poor, blind, naked, and imprisoned, and are destined for hell unless they beg mercy from God. And that's why Jesus could not identify with these people. Because they would not identify their own sinfulness. God wants you to love him. God wants you to love him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. He wants you to walk humbly with him. He wants you to serve him and serve your fellow man. He wants you to do those things. But it can only be accomplished through the work of the Spirit of God in your heart and life.

If you're here today, and you've spent your whole life on the externals. Trying to present a show. Trying to get everybody to think that you're religious. That you love God. The Lord knows your heart. He does. You can't fool the Lord Jesus. He knows everything in your heart. Don't leave today thinking you've fooled him because you haven't. Make sure that you are right before him. That you have come to him humbly. Ask him to forgive you of your sins. Agree with him about what he says concerning your sin.

And be willing to abandon that sin for the sake of his glory and honor. And thus experience new life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Let me pray with you.

Lord God, thank you for today. Truly Lord, you are a great God. You do it differently in your presentation than we do, unfortunately. The way you speak. The way you handle situations. Is always done perfectly. Always done righteously. Yes, you spoke with harshness. Yes, some of your words are hard to hear. But it is the truth. And all of us need to come to grips with the fact that nothing on the outside. Nothing we do is going to save us. Nothing that we have accomplished in the past makes us any better than anybody else.

We're all sinners. Destined for an eternal hell unless by the grace of Almighty God. You touch us with your mercy and forgiveness. If there be one here today. Just one. There might be more than one. If they don't know you Lord. In a way that you have expressed in your word. May they come this day into your presence. May they come to a place of repentance in their lives. And believe only in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.