The Gospel of Luke (53): Controversy with the Pharisees (4) 01/28/2024

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Last week we read, of course, the day of Pentecost when the

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Lord Jesus as the enthroned King poured out his Holy Spirit upon his people, and now in chapter 3 we begin to see the fruit of that event, people being converted to Christ, God blessed the preaching of the

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Word, and Acts 3 begins to tell the story of the expansion of the kingdom of God through the preaching of the gospel.

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Acts chapter 3. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate, to ask alms of those entering the temple.

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Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms, and Peter directed his gaze at him, as did

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John, and said, look at us. And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

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But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have

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I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

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And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

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And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising

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God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple, asking for alms.

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And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called

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Solomon's. And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people. Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this?

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Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?

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The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant

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Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.

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But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.

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And you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

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And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong whom you see and know.

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And the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

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And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what

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God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

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Repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out. That times of refreshing may come from the presence of the

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Lord, that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all things about which

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God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, the

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Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.

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And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.

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And all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaimed these days.

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You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

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God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.

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Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, the only reason why any of us are here is because you have given us the gift of repentance.

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You have enacted a change within us. You have regenerated us and enabled us to respond to you in saving faith.

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And Lord, we thank you for the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. We thank you for the tremendous blessings that are found in him alone.

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Lord, we exalt you and we praise you. You are the God of salvation.

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And Lord, we pray for those who may not know you. We pray for our loved ones, our friends, our family, our neighbors, our co -workers.

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We pray, Lord, that they too would repent, that they would believe. We pray that you would do a great work in their lives.

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Help us, Lord, to speak your truth. Help us to share the scriptures with them. Help us to present the gospel in a loving way, in a way that exalts you, but shows the reality that mankind without you is dead.

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And so, Lord, we thank you for these things. And we pray, Lord, that as we work through the passage this morning, that we would keep focused, that our hearts would be aligned to what the text says.

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We pray that the Spirit of God would be working in our lives so that we might understand it and apply it.

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We pray for Lars, that you'd give him clarity of voice and thought as he proclaims your truth. And we pray,

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Lord, for those listening online and across the world, that they too would have a greater understanding of who you are and what you've done.

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Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, we're in Luke chapter 11 still, but Lord willing, we will complete our consideration of this passage today.

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This has been a larger section of Luke's gospel. It began with verse 14 of Luke 11 and continues through verse 54 at the end of the chapter.

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And through these many verses, we have read of our Lord's conflict with the Pharisees and the scribes, by the way.

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And in verses 14 to 26, we consider the Beelzebul controversy in which the

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Pharisees attributed Jesus exercising a demon from a man to the power of Satan. And our

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Lord used this charge against him to reveal that there was a spiritual battle being waged between him and Satan.

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And the outcome was certain, however. Jesus would come forth the victor over the evil one, and the result is that he would set his people free, rescuing them from the dominion of the devil to whom they had been subject.

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Well, this engagement with the Pharisees gave way to verses 27 and 28, in which our

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Lord reacted and responded to, we have to believe, a well -intentioned woman who sought to praise him by expressing praise with respect to his mother, who had given him birth and nourished him as an infant.

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However, Jesus responded to her by emphasizing the supreme importance and God's great blessing upon those who hear the

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Word of God and obey it. A theme that is rehearsed and emphasized throughout these middle chapters of Luke.

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This was a veiled denunciation of the Jewish leaders, not overt, but certainly there, the

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Jewish leaders who failed both to hear and to obey the Word of God spoken by Jesus. And then last time, we addressed verses 29 through 36, in which we read of our

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Lord's response to those who requested a sign of him, a sign from heaven, to authenticate him and his teaching.

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And of course, our Lord Jesus reacted and responded to these challengers, telling them, rather than seeking signs, they should be seeking to know the truth and to live according to the truth.

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And in this passage, the truth is Jesus's words, which are the words of God. But today, we arrive to the fourth division of this passage, verses 37 through 54, in which we read of our

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Lord now overtly denouncing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, as well as their legalism, which was also true of the scribes.

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And so here is the passage, Luke 11, 37 through 54, from the New King James Version. And as Jesus spoke, as he spoke, a certain

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Pharisee asked him to dine with him. And so he went in and sat down to eat. When the

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Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner. And the

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Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.

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Foolish ones, did not he who made the outside make the inside also?

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But rather give alms of such things as you have, then indeed all things are clean to you.

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But woe to you Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs and pass by justice and the love of God.

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These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Woe to you

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Pharisees, for you love the beseech in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

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Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.

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Then one of the lawyers answered and said to him, Teacher, by saying these things you reproach us also.

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And he said, Woe to you also lawyers, for you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burden with one of your fingers.

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Woe to you, for you build the tombs of the prophets and your fathers killed them.

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In fact you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers, for they indeed killed them and you build their tombs.

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And therefore the wisdom of God also said, I will send them prophets and apostles and some of them they will kill and persecute.

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That the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation.

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From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple, yes

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I say to you it shall be required of this generation. Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge.

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You did not enter in yourselves and those who were entering in you, you hindered.

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And as he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail him vehemently and to cross -examine him about many things, lying in wait for him and seeking to catch him in something he might say that they might accuse him.

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Clearly we see the antagonism becoming more pronounced and evident.

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I .H. Marshall gave a good description of this account that we just read. The preceding section was concerned with an attack made on Jesus and his reply to it.

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In the present section the starting point is again a criticism of Jesus, this time with regard to his failure to observe

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Pharisaic rules of religious cleanliness. But the reply of Jesus moved from the immediate point at issue to a full -scale attack on Pharisaic religion.

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It need not be doubted that the picture painted here is one of the dangers of Phariseeism rather than a portrait of every single

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Pharisee. In other words they were probably godly Pharisees who truly believed on the

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Lord but this was true generally of them is what Marshall was saying. Nevertheless the point is that any human form of religiosity, however virtuous in intention, can turn men away from God.

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That certainly is a truism. Our Lord's attack on these religious hypocrites is set forth by our

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Lord expressing six woes or pronouncements of just condemnation upon the

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Jewish leaders. Three woes are pronounced upon the Pharisees and three woes are pronounced against the lawyers, another term for the scribe.

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Our Lord's words were expressed clearly and seemed to increase in intensity. There was an accumulation of pronouncements and increasing indictment upon these religious leaders.

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Jesus denounced them as hypocrites who were not only damned themselves but due to their religious beliefs and practices they prevented needy ones from entering the kingdom of God.

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So not only were they guilty for their own sins but they were also accountable for the blood of others to whom they should have been guides and helpers to enable their entrance into the kingdom of God.

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The Lord denounced their religion that was concerned only with outward purity and visible religious practice but who gave no attention or effort with regard to inward attitudes and aspirations, desires.

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These men were characterized by both greed and covetousness, wickedness in their hypocrisy.

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They were void of love for others and a concern for justice to be administered to the helpless and needy.

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This did not characterize them. The way we'll address this passage is we'll first consider the details of our passage and then we'll speak to the air of legalism that characterized these religious men which has always been a plague and all of us can be adversely affected by it to different degrees.

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To help us with the details of this passage we may consider first Jesus dined with the

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Pharisee, secondly Jesus denounced the Pharisees, thirdly Jesus denounced the scribes or lawyers, and lastly we read though Jesus denounced unite against him.

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And so first we read that Jesus dined with the Pharisee verses 37 and 38.

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As he spoke a certain Pharisees asked him to dine with him so he went in and sat down to eat but when the

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Pharisee saw it he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner. It's difficult to assess the motivation of the

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Pharisee and his invitation of Jesus. Perhaps the words of Jesus had affected his conscience.

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Maybe he wanted to learn more fully the teaching of Jesus which would be best achieved over dinner.

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However the manner and that Luke described this invitation is rather strange. Luke recorded the words as he spoke a certain

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Pharisee asked him to dine with him. Perhaps the Pharisee had interrupted the teaching of Jesus with this interruption.

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Was he attempting to silence Jesus from further teaching the crowds? We do not know the motivation of this religious man.

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Matthew Henry I think rightly said we are willing to hope that the Pharisee was so well pleased with this discourse that he was willing to show him respect and desires to have more of his company and therefore gave him this invitation and bade him truly welcome and yet we have some cause to suspect that it was with an ill design to break off his discourse to the people and to have an opportunity of in staring him and getting something out of him which might serve for matter of accusation or reproach.

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We know not the mind of this Pharisee but whatever it was Christ knew it and if he meant ill he shall know

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Christ does not fear him. If well he shall know Christ is willing to do him good and so he went in and he sat down to meet.

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Regardless of the Pharisee's motivation our Lord accepted the invitation so he went in and sat down to eat.

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Now our Lord must not have been comfortable as he entered the house of this Pharisee we would assume.

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We can imagine that our Lord anticipated what would transpire. He knew what was in every man and therefore he did not fully disclose himself to any man according to John's Gospel.

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Nevertheless the Lord graciously accepted this man's invitation and came to his home to dine.

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A Christian who lives according to grace is never at ease in the home of a legalist and that's who this

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Pharisee was for he feels like I'm on trial here. Perhaps our

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Lord was thinking to himself I know we're not going to get along. I know sooner going to come into this man's house that when

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I say something or not say something do something or not do something the attitude of my host and the atmosphere of this place will take a bad turn and it certainly did.

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So sure enough even as he sat down Jesus had already offended his host.

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Verse 38 when the Pharisee saw it he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner.

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The Pharisee's offense for Jesus not having washed was not due to concern for cleanliness or offense regarding the politeness of his guest that was not the

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Pharisee's concern. Rather Jesus had failed to comply with a religious ritualistic ceremonial cleansing that the

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Jews commonly practiced in the first century. This washing was not commanded in the

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Hebrew scriptures but the practice was developed by Jewish rabbis and scribes sometime after having returned from the

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Babylonian exile in the 6th century BC. These traditions that had developed originally were in oral form and then later they became codified written down official

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Jewish literature that became binding in the Jewish mind upon the people of God.

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Jesus refused to comply with these man -made self -imposed religious practices that were not commanded in the

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Hebrew scriptures and so Jesus rather obeyed the written word of God as his source and guide in all matters of faith and practice.

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He would not add to the word or take away from the word. The Pharisees were ritualists and legalists.

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They had a certain way of doing things and would call upon the authority of ancient tradition to bind it upon themselves and others kind of like the

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Roman Catholics of today I might just interject and when a man did not conform to their expectations according to their traditions they regarded him as having offended them and transgressed the will of God.

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But our Lord was not pretentious. He would not conform to their expectations if in doing so it would confirm them in their errant religious behavior.

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Well we read that Jesus denounced the Pharisees verses 39 through 44.

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Jesus saw this legalistic attitude exhibited before him and although Luke recorded no words of the

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Pharisee, the Lord saw and perceived the hypocrisy that was characteristic of the Pharisaic party.

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Legalism will tend to show forth hypocrisy. Jesus boldly and forthrightly denounced their legalistic religious belief and practice as we read in these verses.

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Then the Lord said to him, now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and the dish clean but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness foolish ones.

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Did not he who made the outside make the inside also but rather give alms of such things as you have then indeed all things are clean to you.

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Jesus declared that the Pharisees were only concerned about addressing external matters while giving no concern or regard for the inward condition of the heart.

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Here is a basic but critically important spiritual lesson for all people everywhere whether they're

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Christian or not. Whereas man looks on the outward things God is principally concerned regarding the condition of a man's heart.

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If one's heart is not right before the Lord one's life cannot be right before the Lord no matter what he does or how he appears.

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J .C. Ryle addressed this, forever let us bear in mind that the state of our hearts is the principal thing that demands our attention.

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If we would know what we are in religion bodily washings, fastings, and gestures, and postures, and self -imposed mortification of the flesh are all utterly useless if the heart is wrong.

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External devotedness of conduct of grave faith, a bowed head, and asylum countenance, and a loud amen are all abominable in God's sight so long as our hearts are not washed from their wickedness and renewed by the

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Holy Ghost. Let this caution never be forgotten. The idea that men can be devout before they're converted is a grand illusion of the devil and one against which we all need to be on our guard.

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There are two scriptures which are very weighty on this subject. In one it is written out of the heart are the issues of life,

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Proverbs 4, and the other it's written man looketh on the hour it appearance but the Lord looketh at the heart.

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There is a question which should always ask ourselves in drawing near to God whether in public or private we should say to ourselves where is my heart?

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And that's the question we should always pose to ourselves. Now verse 41 is an interesting statement from Jesus.

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After denouncing the Pharisees for their inward corruption Jesus said but rather give alms of such things as you have then indeed all things are clean to you.

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It would seem that our Lord gave a word of practical counsel to affect the cleansing of one's heart. The accusation that our

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Lord had leveled against the Pharisees that their hearts were full of greed and wickedness.

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To cure this heart of greed make a practice of giving alms to those who are in need. Are you a greedy person?

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This is how you can practically correct that. A greedy man will not be a generous man but if a man will purpose to become generous he will find his greediness to dissipate and his concern for the ones he assists will stir his heart to love them rather than his own goods.

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It's a very practical word for the greedy person. We then read that our

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Lord pronounced three woes upon the Pharisees in the manner and style of his role as the prophet of God.

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These are the words of a prophet. Jesus declared but woe to you Pharisees. Three woes to the

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Pharisees for you tithe mint and ruin all manner of herbs passed by justice in the love of God.

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These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Second woe. Woe to you

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Pharisees for you love the beseeched in the synagogue and greetings in the marketplaces. Third woe to you scribes,

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Pharisees, hypocrites. He throws in the scribes there now. For you are all like graves which are not seen.

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The men who walk over them are not aware of them. The use of the word woe is a declaration of God's curse upon a people.

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It's a prophetic pronouncement that they are damned being under the condemnation of God.

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The first woe address their failure to promote justice and manifest the love of God toward others.

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In this matter what condemned them was not what they did but what they failed to do. Again Jesus said for you tithe mint and ruin all manner of herbs and pass by justice and the love of God.

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These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. So the Pharisees were very careful and diligent to tithe of their income.

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They are tithers, faithful. They even gave ten percent of the spices they had obtained and Jesus says they were right to have done so.

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Their tithing was the right and godly thing for them to do. Now this necessitates

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I think that we say a word about tithing in general and I do so with reluctance because the world of course thinks that's all our churches and pastors are concerned about, your pocketbook, and so we rarely address this and only do so when the subject arises within a passage we're treating and certainly has arisen here and so we need to treat it briefly.

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The Word of God teaches that the people of God should tithe of all that God gives to them. Tithing is a confession of faith that God is a provider for his people and that he owns everything that he gives us.

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We're stewards of what he gives us and we show forth our understanding and submission to God as our provider, our good provider by tithing which is the first ten percent of our increase and so when we do so God promises he'll continually and abundantly provide for us physically, financially.

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The Word of God tells us honor the Lord with your possessions with the firstfruits of all your increase so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.

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God views people who withhold tithes that belong to him to be stealing from him.

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He declared through the prophet Malachi, will a man rob God? Yet you've robbed me but you say in what way we robbed you in tithes and offerings.

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You're cursed with a curse where you've robbed me even this whole nation bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.

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Try me now and this says the Lord of Hosts, here's the promise, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.

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So there's blessing added by God and then secondly I will rebuke the devourer for your sake so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground and nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field says the

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Lord of Hosts and all nations will call you blessed for you will be a delightful land says the Lord of Hosts.

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Some people and some Christians included are afflicted with the devourer because the Lord has not rebuked him.

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Solomon once wrote there is a severe evil which I've seen under the sun riches kept for their owner to his hurt.

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When a Christian ties out of faith and obedience God holds off the devourer from him and his goods.

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Now some Christians attempt to argue that tithing is an Old Testament practice which was under the law of Moses and since we're under no longer under the law of Moses as a covenant we are now no longer obligated to tithe but to practice grace giving.

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This is a common teaching you'll hear. Many times in saying that they're actually meaning

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I don't have to tithe but I only have to give what I want to give but this is wrong.

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Granted under the Mosaic law there were specific instructions on the nature and manner of tithing in God's covenant with Israel but the

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Bible records the people of God tithing over 400 years before the giving of the law through Moses.

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Abraham gave tithes. Jacob yeah he gave tithes to Melchizedek.

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Jacob committed to give a tenth of all scriptures teach. But again

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Jesus said of the Pharisees that they had been faithful in tithing but it was in their failure in other ways that incurred the wrath of God upon them.

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Being faithful in stewardship does not exempt one from his obligation to other matters of holy living. You can't buy off God.

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Jesus said woe to you Pharisees you tithe meant ruin all manner of herbs passed by justice and the love of God.

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These ought you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. There's the problem.

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Well the second woe pronounced by the Lord Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their pride and their desire to be popular and admired by others.

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Jesus said in verse 43 woe to you Pharisees for you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

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They were proud and self -seeking. They were not looking to glorify

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God but to gratify and glorify themselves. To quote Ryle once again let it be noted that ambition and the love of precedence are common marks of the formless and the self -righteous.

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To exalt themselves under pretense of honoring the church and to obtain power under cover of obtaining respect for their own order has been the practice of Pharisees all over the world and in every age of the

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Church of Christ. Interestingly Bishop Ryle was a bishop of the Church of England and he knew a lot about dead clergymen and their attitudes.

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And then Ryle went on to write our Lord in this verse exposes the hollowness of the motives by which his enemies were actuated.

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Self and self -aggrandizement were the true spring of all their conduct.

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And then the third woe declared that the Pharisees defiled and corrupted the people with whom they had influence.

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They hurt people rather than help them. Verse 44 records our Lord's words woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you're like graves which are not seen and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.

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When a Jewish person came in contact with the dead even the tomb where a body was buried the result was ceremonial defilement.

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They became unclean and although many graves were whitewashed to better warn people of the danger of defilement many graves were not easily seen and avoided.

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Those who came in contact with these tomb became ceremonially unclean and these Pharisees brought no spiritual good to the people whom they had influenced.

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These Pharisees were like undetected sepulchers. Their religion was corrupt and their corruption was spiritually contagious adversely affecting the people they influenced.

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The people were becoming increasingly unclean because of the influence in contact with these

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Pharisees. This was the direct approach wasn't it? Jesus wasn't pulling back at all and then

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Jesus denounced the law lawyers or scribes in verses 45 through 49. Luke provides a transition interestingly here to our

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Lord's denunciation of the lawyers. Verse 45 then one of the lawyers answered said to him teacher by saying these things you reproach us also.

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You don't mean us too do you Jesus? Scribes were experts in the law of Moses.

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Most scribes by the way were Pharisees and here a scribe so identified with the

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Pharisees that Jesus had just announced he expressed his surprise and possible objection that he and his scribal brethren should be included in this denunciation.

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But our Lord addressed that they were also under the wrath of God. Three woes were pronounced on the

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Pharisees now three woes are pronounced upon the scribes. They were equally guilty and complicit and their falsehood and hypocrisy and so Jesus denounced them.

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Woe to you lawyers for you load men with burdens hard to bear. You yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

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Woe to you for you build the tombs of the prophets your fathers killed them. In fact you bear witness that you approve of the deeds of your fathers for they indeed killed them and you build their tombs and therefore the wisdom of God also said

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I will send them prophets and apostles and some of them they will kill and persecute that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple.

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Yes I say to you it shall be required of this generation. Woe to you lawyers for you have taken away the key of knowledge you did not enter in yourselves those who are entering in you hindered.

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So the Lord had pronounced three woes upon the Pharisees he pronounced three additional woes upon these lawyers six in total.

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By the way I didn't mention this in the notes but the parallel to this in Matthew's gospel is a different setting different context entirely and there he pronounced seven woes that's in Matthew 23 when

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Jesus was in Jerusalem but here he's on his way to Jerusalem two separate occasions although the same kinds of language told in a different occasion.

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Well here the first woe directed toward the scribes again the declaration of God's impending wrath upon them singled out he singled out their legalistic teaching imposed upon the people they taught unreasonable and unbiblical duties and commandments.

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He said woe to you also lawyers for you load men with burdens hard to bear and you yourselves do not touch the burden with one of your fingers.

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These men were teachers of duties that they claim to be expected and required of God's people to obey but not only were they impossible duties and standards to achieve but these scribes gave no instruction or assistance to the people to fulfill what was being imposed upon them.

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Probably the idea being conveyed by our Lord is that these failed or refused to practice what they they taught others to do.

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They taught them to do these things but they wouldn't even touch the matter with their own finger as it were.

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They laid these burdens upon others but made no effort themselves to keep these legalistic requirements hence the hypocrisy.

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The second woe is declared by our Lord for their complicity in rejecting and killing the prophets that God had sent to them through the history of their nation and so verses 47 through 51 woe to you for you build the tombs of the prophets and your fathers killed them in fact you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers for they indeed killed them you build their tombs and therefore the wisdom of God also said

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I will send them prophets and apostles and some of them they will kill and persecute that the blood of the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation from the blood of Abel the first one killed in Scripture to the blood of Zechariah in the

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Hebrew Bible the law the prophets and the writings this is the last man mentioned in the

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Hebrew Scriptures as having been martyred from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple yes

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I say to you it shall be required of this generation and so they were complicit with those who had killed the prophets and Jesus says they were responsible although they you know made in another instance or case they declared if they had lived in those days they wouldn't have done that and Jesus said yes you would have

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I was reminded of an acquaintance of mine in California pastor who visited

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England and he went to the town of Bedford where John Bunyan had been in prison for 12 years because he refused to stop preaching the gospel and of course in that prison he wrote the pilgrims progress so the

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Lord blessed him in that he could have been released at any time had he agreed not to preach but God had called him to preach and so he could not deny that but my friend was telling me as he went through Bedford and the church the main church there in Bedford who never allowed

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John Bunyan to preach once and even fought against him nevertheless to go into Bedford you'd think it was

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John Bunyan town they had you know little monuments and signs and everything pilgrims progress and John Bunyan as though they were commemorating him when they did everything to oppose him the established church in that area as though it were

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John Bunyan's town now interestingly there's a statement here we're at the top of page 7 now

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Jesus makes reference to the wisdom of God in verse 49 some have said this is a reference or an allusion to an apocryphal book that Jesus was quoting the wisdom of God stated this but no one can produce such a book and so that's probably not the right explanation it's best to be seen simply as a statement that means divine wisdom

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God purposed in his wisdom to send prophets and he includes

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Apostles here who also would be persecuted and killed due to their proclamation the

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Word of God and it's in God's wisdom that he does this when our

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Lord declared that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required his generation he was speaking of his judgment poured out upon these people through the accumulation of guilt through the centuries and it came down upon them and this was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the

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Romans in AD 70 King Jesus sent forth his armies to destroy the people of Jerusalem and you recall

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Jesus told his disciples when you see the city surrounded by the armies flee and Eusebius the early church historian of the fourth century said that no

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Jewish Christians perished in that siege for they fled in following their

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Lord's instruction and so the Lord Jesus here you have a declaration of the impending judgment upon Jerusalem which was destroyed and the temple destroyed by the

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Romans in AD 70 and we'll see that more clearly of course in Luke chapter 21 the abomination of desolation is not a future

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Antichrist political Antichrist the abomination of desolation was the

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Jewish people crucifying their Messiah it was an abomination and it brought about their desolation

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Jesus declared to Jerusalem behold your house has left you desolate and this is a prophecy that's looking forward to this event that Luke clearly sets forth in Luke chapter 21 well the third woe against the lawyers was due to the error that they perpetrated regarding the nature of the kingdom of God and the way that people might enter that kingdom

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Jesus said woe to your lawyers for you have taken away the key of knowledge you did not enter in yourselves and those who are entering in you hinder their teaching was so errant that knowledge of the truth of God's Word could not be learned from them they had not only failed to proclaim rightly the kingdom of God but they closed the doors for those who might have otherwise entered the blood of people souls were under was on their hand well then the final division of this section of Scripture describes a hostile reaction and evil intentions of the ones that Jesus had condemned it's moving toward the cross isn't it verses 53 and 54 they unite in denouncing him and as he said these things to them the

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Scribes and the Pharisees began to assail him vehemently you know this is a dinner you can imagine the scene and to cross -examine him about many things lying in wait for him and seeking to catch him in something he might say that they might accuse him and that's what legalists do so they regarded

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Jesus as their enemy to be discredited and destroyed they sought to find some cause in his teaching for which they could condemn him well again we've had this display of the era of legalism set before us our

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Lord denounced their doctrine and the practice of legalism and so this passage sets forth the nature of this false religion and shows forth a number of ways in which legalism manifests itself in attitudes and behavior we're all prone to legalism in a measure we have to be taught otherwise it should be understood that when we denounce the false religion of religion of legalism that we say in a word in general about the word religion some

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Christians don't like that word religion religion however by definition is simply the beliefs that a person holds and the practical living out of those beliefs in life every person who has a lick of sense is a religious person it should be acknowledged that every rational individual in this world has a religion that is every person has a belief system and his outer conduct is governed by that belief system even the atheist has a religion he may not believe in the existence of God but he has a belief system and his conduct will reflect that religion that he holds

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Christianity is a religion and a

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Christian is by definition religious now again it's popular to hear a Christian say

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I'm not religious rather I'm a Christian and of course I understand the reason they say that usually due to the

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Christian desire to show that his faith his faith is a relationship with God in Christ rather than merely a system of beliefs about God but actually he's not correct when he says he's not religious if you're a

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Christian you have a religion and you are religious that is you have a belief system and you're ordering your life according to that belief system and the scriptures themselves speak of a

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Christian's religion James wrote if anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart this one's religion is useless pure and undefiled religion the way you live out your faith before God and the

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Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world every one of us is religious and so here in James religion should be understood as the practical outworking of one's faith everyone is religious but not everyone manifests his religion in the same way and actually broadly speaking there are three ways of living that professing

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Christians show forth in their thinking and living three forms of Christian religion first there's the way of grace this is what the

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Bible teaches of course the Word of God when we look humbly to the Word of God in Christ our Lord to govern our lives and as we look to him in faith who alone can enable us to perform his will we're living by grace we look to the

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Lord Jesus to enable us by the power of the Holy Spirit to live in obedience to the Word of God this is the way of the scriptures and it's the only way which is approved by God this is what it is okay this is the way of life for the biblical

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Christian but then there's the way of licentiousness that many professing

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Christians espouse this form of Christian religion is a perversion of grace a departure from the grace taught in the

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Holy Scriptures Jude 3 and 4 speak of this Jude says I wanted to write to you about our common faith while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation

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I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith that's a body of doctrine for the faith which was once for all delivered to the

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Saints why for certain men have crept in on a notice unnoticed they're there in the church who long ago were marked out for this condemnation ungodly men who turned the grace of our

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God into lewdness or licentiousness and deny the only Lord God and our

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Lord Jesus Christ they denied Lordship salvation these people who may be termed antinomian against law reason this way since I'm saved by grace through faith alone apart from my works which is a true statement therefore

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I'm free to live any way I desire without eternal consequences which is terrible error this was the religion of professing

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Christians who had perverted the biblical doctrine of grace and there's many of these antinomians do not believe they're under obligation to order their thinking and living according to the law of God they've twisted and distorted the biblical teaching regarding the grace of God the grace of God means to them it doesn't matter how you live as long as you believe in Jesus and that is heresy and then thirdly of course there's the way of legalism this form of religion assumes that one's way of living merits

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God's blessing this way of religion assumes that one is able to his own inherent goodness and his own effort apart from God's enabling grace to attain

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God's standards this way of religion commonly asserts a set of rules or laws which are not necessarily set forth in the scriptures but which the legalist observes and would impose on others to observe as well and that's what these

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Pharisees were doing and scribes were doing he was not ceremonially washing before dinner well this religion of legalism was the predominant way of Judaism when our

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Lord ministered on earth and whenever Jesus saw it he confronted it and condemned it this was the religion of the

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Pharisee and the scribe I didn't put it in my notes but there's a whole new realm of New Testament teaching for over the last 40 years called the new perspective of Paul which denies that that says that the

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Pharisees religion was not a works righteousness religion and that Martin Luther had it all wrong all the

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Protestant Reformers had it all wrong no the new perspective guys are all wrong and that's been demonstrated in the last 40 years and so we have the way of grace it's a biblical way of religion then we have the error on the one hand of the way of license and on the other hand the way of the legalist and whole churches in the

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New Testament age fell into error regarding this the Church of Corinth fell into licentious grace 1st

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Corinthians 5 the churches of Galatia fell into legalism and we too need to understand these things and beware of them for we can bring harm to ourselves and others if we don't understand these matters biblically here in Luke 11 the

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Lord met mr. legalist a Pharisee and his companion legalist a scribe and so a conflict ensued which the

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Lord Jesus seems to have instigated he's the one who brought it up but through this passage we see legalism with its pretense stripped away it being revealed for what it is a way of religion that is opposed to God and true righteousness and so in consideration this passage we can identify really 12 common qualities of legalism there probably are more

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I just came up with 12 so let's just rehearse them quickly and then we'll close legalists have some common characteristics first a legalist is not always easily identified the people didn't recognize them they were like you know sepulchers that were not really noticeable and they became defiled to their contact with them a legalist may be polite and generous on occasion we should not think that all legalists need to be on a steer aloof recluse he may be a very congenial sort inviting others dining with others this man invited

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Jesus to dine with him second and legalist excludes others from fellowship over non -essential or non -biblical issues if you don't jump through their hoops they don't accept you as soon as Jesus failed to conform to this

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Pharisee standards this man's judge Jesus is not being right with God beware when a church becomes infected with this kind of error the members not only exclude others but may begin to bite and devour one another as well this happened in Galatia they first excluded

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Paul then they began to destroy one another and Paul warned them of the consequences of their legalism if you bite and devour one another beware lest you'd be consumed by one another third a legalist will focus on our conformity to a legal standard our

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Lord denounces these Pharisees and scribes who focus was on external things issues of appearance outward behavior but wicked attitudes were largely unaddressed a legalist is little concerned about inward righteousness appearances are most important if things appear okay on the outside he's quite content he's unaware and little concerned about the condition of his heart he can get all worked up about the sin out there in the world the sin in society he's not too concerned about the sin of his own heart in my early days

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I was in the fundamental Baptist hypocritical legalistic circles and I remember the most important thing you know that women had to wear dresses below the knee and men had to have tapered haircuts

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I couldn't have blocked haircuts and you could you could spot him you know and it would seem that that was the external outward appearance and if you met that you were you were one of the brethren

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I was so blatantly legalistic it just incredible they're not concerned however about inward righteousness this pride the arrogant judgmental spirit ignorance mercy fifth the legalist is ignorant and void of true righteousness

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Christianity is a heart religion for this is the arena in which God works if we only lament over our actions and not our nature which leads to the action there's something terribly defective about our faith we may be greatly encouraged when we hear one who's troubled about his thoughts and his attitudes reading through a book of A .W.

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Pink's early letters and he was responding to a man who wrote him a friend who was lamenting his life and how his failures and and pink wrote back and said

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I'm encouraged by reading of your growth in grace he's becoming more and more of this it aware of his sin these are the things which the

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Spirit of God addresses and convicts a man oh my heart my soul is so cold and indifferent and not compliant to the things of God is not right that that that is the that is the attitude of a spiritual man who seizes things rightly but he identifies with Christ thankfully outside of him as well as in him a legalist six is generally concerned only about himself has little love for others he's little moved by the injustice that others encounter he lacks love for his neighbor but he's meticulously observant about the minutest details of his soul and others lives these guys even tithe of their spices seven and legalist loves recognition desiring foremost to have the esteem of others he's ultimately more concerned about what men think of him than what

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God thinks of him or worse he assumes if men will recognize his worth and value it only reflects what

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God must think of him he will judge according to our standards of morality only assume that God does too

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I could add in another one they're they're totally void of a true understanding of whom

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God favors this Pharisee thought he was right with God and that the problem was with Jesus because he didn't wash their ammonia before he ate you talk about ignorance and error but he was totally oblivious to it

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Jesus set him straight but he wouldn't receive it a legalist imposes rules on others that he does not observe himself and he has no desire or mean to help them under the load they add to the

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Word of God even while they exempt themselves they impose rules and standards upon others that they themselves do not follow years ago

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I was reminded of this I had a friend we commuted to seminary together 117 miles one way

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I did that for 11 years and my friend did it with me for a couple years he became the head of the rescue mission in Sacramento I used to go down preach for him once in a while but we'd commute so we got to talk a lot and he was a retired

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Air Force Master Sergeant and he got out of the Air Force decide go to seminary and so he was in his mid -40s and he went to this

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Baptist Seminary in Missouri I believe it was and one of the stipulation of the students is you were not allowed to go this particular bookstore because they sold

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Calvinistic books and my friend you know he wasn't a Calvinist at the time but he was leaning that way he decided to go down this bookstore and so he went in there and who does he find but the

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Dean of Students of the college there and the Dean you know didn't accuse him or anything they joked together and but my friend challenged him on it you know why are you here when you forbid it to your student well

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I can handle it and I'm mature enough to handle it hypocrisy you know they'll impose on other standards that they won't themselves adhere to.

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Ten, a legalist prevents others from seeing the truth for they themselves are strangers to it they're clueless this

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Pharisee was clueless the scribe was clueless an expert in the Bible Old Testament Scriptures a legalist will persecute the people of God the history of the church is a history of legalism and the guise of Christianity persecuting the true people of God read

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Fox's Book of Martyrs and we only have abbreviated editions

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I have the full eight volume edition in PDF I forget how many thousands of pages it is any edition of Fox's Book of Martyrs that you buy now it's only about 10 % of what he originally penned and it's a history of legalists persecuting sincere people of faith last 2 ,000 years that's been the case.

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Twelve, a legalist will suffer the judgment of God woe unto you Jesus said now again all of us are prone to legalism and in our

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Christian lives we we can go off into becoming legalistic in ways and attitudes

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I myself you know can recount that I've attempted to recount it but it's something we should recognize and repudiate in ourselves you know who am

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I you know to pass judgment on another man or woman and what what they are doing in non -essential matters and when we speak to them about their sin it's not because we're denouncing them ourselves we're trying to make them known this is what the

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Word of God says about your belief or your attitude or action it's not us passing condemnation upon them and in our dealings with people we ought to convey that to them we're simply fellow beggars showing them where they can find bread and that ought to be our attitude and I tell you what a non -christian can pick that up in no time because if there's one spiritual attribute that a non -christian can identify the world can identify that's hypocrisy and they'll they'll spot it in no time and they'll spot it in you and me if it's there what should our response be to these matters let's be courageous for the truth of God as Jesus was against sin and corruption our

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Lord spoke very clearly and forthrightly before these people about the danger of these legalistic hypocrites posed that and the

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Lord did not seem to be overly concerned about offending people did he he made them know the truth he spoke the truth clearly and directly as anybody possibly could yes he was gentle and humble and taught with patience and tenderness those who were puzzled or distressed he didn't you know quench the smoking flax or break off the bent reed you know he welcomed sinners but when he came across somebody who was self -righteous he let them know what their true standing was before God when he saw hypocrisy false religion error belief in practice he did not back off but he declared it in a straightforward manner and we should do no less and and that's what we attempt to do as a church okay and as when we stand up publicly and declare the

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Word of God that's what we do on the radio of course and we get called all the time as a result some favorable some not so frankly you know we get love phone calls and hate phone calls depending on whatever it is that we're dealing with may the

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Lord help us to be wise in these matters and may the Lord help us to recover people like this many of us can probably testify that we were saved out of this kind of religious thinking and saved by the grace of God through the mercy of God in Jesus Christ alone amen let's pray thank you father for your word and we thank you our

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God for the clarity and the power our God the forthrightness of you our

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Lord Jesus in dealing with this self -righteous hypocrite this religious man who is so far from the kingdom and yet did not know it and Lord we we live in a world in which there are so many who believe themselves our

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God to be in favor with you and yet they're strangers to Jesus Christ help us our