"The Gospel of Luke (69): Three Sayings of Jesus July 14, 2024

First Baptist Church Leominster

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and idol makers, and so Paul had to leave

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Ephesus, and as Acts 20 opens up, we read of him traveling across the

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Aegean Sea and up to, from Troas across the Aegean Sea to Macedonia where he no doubt visited

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Philippi and Berea, but then he came back and landed in Troas there on the coast and traveled down, and he didn't go to Ephesus, he had to have passed right by it, but he went to Miletus and he called for the

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Ephesian elders to come meet him there, it's about 20 miles south of Ephesus, I remember visiting there back in the mid -90s, and it was like Ephesus, at one time it was actually a seaport, but the rivers had filled in the silt and what not, so it's about a mile or so from the ocean, just ruins and what not, but this is where Paul met the

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Ephesian elders, and we have some quite significant lessons in which

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Paul warned the Ephesian elders of the difficulty that they're going to have in the future, and even some of them were going to turn away from the

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Lord and bring corruption to the church. So Acts chapter 20, there's some challenging words and names in here that I kind of warned

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Leo about, and so we'll be patient and tolerant with him as we read through Acts chapter 20.

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Thank you. After the uproar had ceased,

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Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia.

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Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece and stayed there three months.

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And when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to return to Macedonia, and Sopata of Berea accompanied him to Asia.

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Also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus, and Trophimus of Asia.

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These men, going ahead, waited for us at Troas, but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

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Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.

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There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together, and in a window sat a certain young man named

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Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep, and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third floor and was taken up dead.

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But Paul went down, fell on him, and embraced him, said, Do not trouble yourself, for his life is in him.

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Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak he departed, and they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted.

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Then he went ahead to the ship and sailed to Asos, there intending to take Paul on board, for so he had given orders, intending himself to go on foot.

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And when he had met us at Asos, we took him on board and came to Mileton.

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We sailed from there, and the next day came to Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos and sailed for Trullium.

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The next day we came to Miletus, for Paul had decided to seal past Ephesus so he would not have to spend time in Asia.

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He was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

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From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them,

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You know, from the first day I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the

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Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials, which happened to me by the plotting of the

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Jews, how I kept nothing back that was helpful and proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly from house to house, testifying to Jews, also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our

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Lord Jesus Christ. And see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the

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Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.

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But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy in the ministry which

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I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. And indeed, now

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I know that you all, among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more.

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Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

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Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he has purchased with his own blood.

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For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

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Also, from among yourselves, men will rise up, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves.

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Therefore, watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn you every night and day with tears.

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So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

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I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourself know that these hands have provided for my necessities and for those who are with me.

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I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak.

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And remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

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And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

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Then they all went, wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing, most of all because of the words which he spoke, that they would not see his face no more.

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And they accompanied him to the ship. Well, let's pray.

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Thank you, our God, for your word. We thank you that you use your word, our God, to accomplish your good purposes in Christ.

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And we pray, our God, that you would now bless your word as we consider your message to us from Luke chapter 16.

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Illuminate our minds to the truth, our God, of your word. And we pray you stir our hearts, our

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God, that we would love your word and receive it as your engrafted word that we can grow thereby.

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And so help us now, we pray. Help us to put away all distractions, our God, and focus on this most important matter at hand.

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As we know to the degree we reflect your word accurately, truly we're hearing from you.

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And so bless us, we pray, with your presence and power. In Jesus' name, amen.

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All right. So here we are now in Acts chapter 16. We started last Lord's Day.

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We considered the parable of the unjust steward in Luke chapter 16, 1 through 13.

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And you recall in the opening of the verse of chapter 16, the Lord indicated that he was, or Luke indicated the

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Lord was addressing his disciples directly. However, his teaching, of course, of this parable of the unjust steward was in the hearing of the

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Jewish Pharisees who were opposed to Jesus, but they were listening to him. And in this parable, of course,

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Jesus taught his disciples that all of life must be surrendered to him as Lord and Savior, and specifically in the matter of finances.

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And so the whole parable of the unjust steward has to do with our being just stewards before God in Christ.

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Jesus said, no servant can serve two masters, either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.

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You cannot serve God and mammon. And so serving

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God as a way of salvation, of course, through faith in Christ, serving money or having that as the principle desire aim of life will result in damnation.

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Well, then we read that our Lord, after speaking to his disciples, turned and spoke directly to the

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Jewish Pharisees, whom Luke describes as lovers of money.

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So these were the very ones that the Lord was alluding to. And Jesus warned them of their certain condemnation and God's judgment, for he knew their hearts were governed by covetousness.

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And although our Lord's words were directed specifically to the Pharisees, Jesus then gave two more utterances after his words in verse 13, 14.

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And we would say these two further utterances or sayings of Jesus seem to be unrelated to the context.

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And so it looks like Luke just kind of put these sayings of Jesus right here as they were brought to his mind, the

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Holy Spirit guiding him, of course. But it's hard to find a direct connection between these three sayings with each other.

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We'll attempt to do so in a measure. And so Luke recorded that Jesus gave forth these three comments, verses 13 through 18, which seem to be disconnected from one another, before he gave forth the account of the rich man in Lazarus, which begins in verse 19.

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And we'll address that, Lord willing, next week. To me, one of the most terrifying passages in the Bible, the rich man in hell and, of course, the blessing of Lazarus in Abraham's bosom.

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But today, we'll give our attention to the three sayings of Jesus here in Luke 16, 14 through 18.

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Now, the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided him.

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And he said to them, you are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.

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For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. The law of the prophets were until John.

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Since that time, the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.

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The tittle would be the little tiny lines that are part of Hebrew letters. He's basically saying it's all going to be realized, be fulfilled.

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And then he gave this word about marriage and divorce. Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced from her commits adultery.

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And so we have these three sayings. Let's first consider the reproof of the Pharisees.

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We address these men in a measure last Lord's Day, but we'll speak a few more words regarding them this morning before moving on again.

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Verses 14 and 15. Now the Pharisees who were lovers of money also heard all these things, and they derided him.

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And he said to them, you are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts, for what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

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So we read these Pharisees were lovers of money. It seems to be

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Luke's inspired assessment of the major character trait of these Jewish Pharisees.

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These men were regarded by the Jewish people to be devout and committed men of God, holy men of God, these

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Pharisees. And they certainly regarded themselves in this favorable way, but their inner character differed from their outward profession.

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God was not the dominating force in their lives, although they claimed he was, but rather the love of money governed their thinking and their affections.

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This inordinate desire was the controlling motivation for their thinking, the life of these supposed pious men.

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And Jesus said of them on a later occasion, and we'll come to this later in Luke's gospel, and when he spoke to his disciples and all the people, beware the scribes who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, the best places at feasts who devour widows' houses.

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Incredible, there's their covetousness coming forward. And for a pretense, make long prayers in order to impress people, not to plead with God in sincerity.

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And then Jesus will then declare, these will receive greater condemnation.

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And so rather than desiring the good of others, they desire the goods of others. And this dominated their lives.

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And so they reacted to Jesus's words, understandably. They had low regard for the words of God spoken by him.

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One once wrote of them, note many that make a great profession of religion, have much knowledge and abound in the exercise of devotion, are yet ruined by the love of the world.

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And nor does anything harden the heart more against the word of Christ. And that's a truism, love for the world.

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And sometimes the reaction to the word of God really reveals the condition of a person's heart, perhaps more than anything.

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The prophet Jeremiah wrote of ones like these men, behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them.

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They have no delight in it. And if you don't have delight in the word of God, that doesn't portend well for you.

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Examine yourself. Well, these covetous Pharisees reproached Jesus when he told them that their money must be subordinate to the authority of God and his word.

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They ridiculed him. I believe the English Standard Version has that translation.

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And one day each of them will stand before the Lord and held account for their words and for their perverse hearts.

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Of course, their greatest sin was the little regard and respect shown Jesus. They derided him.

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Again, as the ESV says, they ridiculed him. Incredible. To be ridiculed for one's faith and devotion to God and his son is a very great trial for many.

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And in some ways, open hostility is preferable to public mockery.

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Discouragement is often the result. And I recall as a young man making a call to a home in which

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I attempted to be enthusiastic in inviting this man and his family to church, and I can remember him vividly to this day and his attitude and his words.

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He ridiculed me verbally and openly, standing there in his kitchen.

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And to me, it was a very discouraging encounter, which I bore for a long time. Ridicule for the word of God is,

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I think, harder to take than open hostility. Jeremiah intended to quit his prophetic ministry when he was maltreated by those who ridiculed him.

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Jeremiah 20, O Lord, you induced me and I was persuaded, in other words, to proclaim

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God's word as a prophet. You're stronger than I, and you've prevailed. I am a derision daily, everyone mocks me.

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For when I spoke, I cried out, I shouted violence and plunder, he announced the judgment, wrath of God upon them, they didn't want to hear it.

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Because the word of the Lord was made to me a reproach and a derision daily. And so he purposed, he wasn't going to preach anymore.

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I said, I will not make mention of him nor speak anymore in his name. But his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones,

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I was worried of holding it back, I could not. And so he continued in his ministry of the word because it was the calling of God on his life.

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It really wasn't an option, even though he tried to quit. And so derision, ridicule,

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Jeremiah was greatly discouraged due to the mockery of those whom he'd sought to declare faithfully the word of God.

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But it was the call of God on his life and the burden of the knowledge of God's word in his soul that prevented him from abandoning his profession as a spokesman for God.

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Fear of mockery or derision is a common cause for many of the people of God to remain silent.

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It is for you, it is for me, I suspect. When they know they should speak forth on behalf of God, but they know how their words will be received.

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So how are we to address this fear of man that troubles us? And that's what it is, fear of man.

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We've got this underlying desire to be respected and appreciated by even strangers.

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And so oftentimes we're silent when we shouldn't speak up. How are we to deal with this?

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Well we're to reflect upon the manner that evil men regarded and treated Jesus. In doing so, we will enable ourselves to be less affected when we encounter similar treatment as his disciples.

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The writer to the Hebrews says this, gives this direction specifically. For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

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Are you weary and discouraged in your soul as a Christian? Then you need to consider Jesus and what he encountered and what he faced, the hostility that was heaped upon him.

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And we have that here in Luke chapter 16 verses 13 and 14. Matthew Henry rightly wrote, our

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Lord Jesus endured not only the contradiction of sinners conflict, but their contempt.

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They had him in derision all the day. He that spoke as never man spoke was bantered and ridiculed that his faithful ministers whose preaching is unjustly derided may not be disheartened at it.

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That's why the Lord endured this to encourage all his disciples after him when they encountered similar things.

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It's no disgrace to be a man to be laughed at. That's not a disgrace. But rather to deserve to be laughed at.

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That's the disgrace. Christ's apostles were mocked and no wonder for the disciple is not greater than his

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Lord as Jesus himself told his disciples. Well our

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Lord rebuked these men, these Jewish Pharisees. But notice that he did not rebuke them for deriding him, but for having deceived themselves and others regarding their standing before God.

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Jesus said to these self -righteous, covetous Pharisees, you are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.

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They justified themselves before men. They compared themselves with others because they believed they outstripped all others in zeal and devotion, that they were more righteous before God than all others.

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And sadly all others who also thought that these Pharisees were above them regarded them highly and therefore themselves much lower than them.

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The Pharisees were highly esteemed by others, but this only propped up their delusions regarding themselves and their standing before God.

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And so rather than people disregarding them, the people praised and envied them. As one wrote, men did not only acquit them of any blame they were under, but applauded them and had them in veneration, not only as good men, but the best of men.

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There are some that walk around in clerical clothing that are regarded that way by many people and they shouldn't be because they preach another gospel.

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But God knew their hearts. Jesus would declare to them what is set forth in Hebrews. There is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

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And John Calvin, as he always stated so forthrightly and clearly, he says,

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Christ says that they reckon it enough if they appear to be good in the eyes of men and if they can boast, and if they can boast a pretended sanctity, but that God who knows the hearts is well acquainted with their vices, which they conceal from the view of the world.

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And here we must attend to the distinction between the judgments of God and the judgments of men. For men bestow approbation or approval or congratulations on outward appearances.

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But at the judgment seat of God, nothing is approved but an upright heart. And of course, that can only be one who is in Christ.

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And then again, Matthew Henry wrote, first, it's folly to justify ourselves before men.

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And so that's all that's required of us. And to think this enough to bear us out and bring us off, in other words, allow us to escape in the judgment of the great day that men know ill of us.

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For God who knows our hearts knows that ill of us, which no one else can know. This ought to check our value for ourselves and our confidence in ourselves that God knows our hearts.

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How much deceit is there for we have reason to abase and distrust ourselves. Amen. I recall vividly a

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Christian lady attempting to console a young Christian wife and mother who was in deep despair regarding her spiritual condition.

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And so this well intentioned Christian lady said to this young woman, did not be so distressed,

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Betty, for the Lord knows your heart. I can see her face now so vividly. She rolled her eyes and said out loudly, that's the problem.

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I know he knows my heart. And there was the thought of the ladies and I was there teaching the

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Bible study to them. I was listening and watching them interact. And I was thinking to myself, for the first time,

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I thought with her distress, I just assumed at the outset it was the devil plaguing her heart. And I asked myself the question, how do

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I know it's the devil? How do I not know it's the Holy Spirit? And so I sat there listening and watching carefully.

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And when Betty responded to that woman, I know that God knows my heart. I thought that's the Holy Spirit, that's not the devil at work.

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And the Lord wonderfully settled her heart and gave her peace when she trusted

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Christ holy. Jesus told these men for what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God, total opposite.

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Sin is so adversely affected all aspects of the human condition that we think we're right with God when in reality just the opposite is true if we're outside of Christ.

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Our values are corrupt as are our evaluations. What is highly esteemed among men includes fame, notoriety, the accumulation of wealth and possessions, power, prestige, becoming envious of others.

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Again, Henry wrote, it is folly to judge of persons and things by the opinion of men concerning them and to go down with the stream of vulgar, and we mean by common estimate.

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In other words, what people generally think or consider about a person for that which is highly esteemed among men who judge according to our appearance is perhaps an abomination in the sight of God who sees things as they are and whose judgment we're sure is according to truth.

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On the contrary, there are those whom men despise and condemn who are yet are accepted and approved of God.

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And Jesus would despise of these people. They ridiculed him. And Paul would later write, for not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the

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Lord commends. What perversity lies in the fallen heart of man in that what he highly regards

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God highly abhors. How we should shun and hate that which is abominable in the sight of God.

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And when I thought of this, I thought of Jonathan Edwards who gave a sermon entitled, The Folly of Looking Back and Fleeing Out of Sodom.

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And it was an allusion to Lot's wife who turned back and became a pillar of salt based on Luke, Luke 1732, in which

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Jesus told his disciples, remember Lot's wife. We'll be getting there in not too many weeks,

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I think, it's in the next chapter. Edwards depicted the fallen world to be spiritual

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Sodom, that God will destroy in his judgment as he had once destroyed the ancient city of the plain,

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Sodom and Gomorrah. And so here is words, forgive me for the extent of it, but it seems like after Edwards said something, everything that needed to be said was said,

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Babylon has become the habitation of devils. And this is the Babylon set forth in the book of Revelation.

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The fallen world system. And hold of every foul spirit and cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

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Who would be of such a society? Who would not flee from such a city with the utmost haste and never look back upon it?

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Never have the least inclination of returning? Supposed to be Lot and his two daughters and his wife.

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Some in Sodom may seem to carry a fair face and make a fair outward show.

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But if we could look into their hearts, they are everyone altogether filthy and abominable. We ought to flee from such a city with the utmost abhorrence of the place in society, with no desires to dwell longer there, and never to discover the least inclination to return to it, which should be desires to get to the greatest possible distance from it, that we might in no wise be partakers in her abominations.

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The world of mankind is divided into two companies, or as I may say, two cities.

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The city of Zion, the church of God, the holy and beloved city. And there is Sodom, that polluted and accursed city, which is appointed to destruction.

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And you belong, he's talking to his church, Christians out in Northampton, you belong to the latter of those.

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How much soever you may look upon yourselves as better than some others, you are the same city, the same, well actually he's attributing them to Sodom.

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You're the company with fornicators, drunkards, and adulterers, and common swearers, and highwaymen, and pirates, and sodomites.

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How much soever you may think yourself distinguished, as long as you are out of Christ, you belong to the very same society.

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You are this company, you join with them, and are no better than they, any otherwise, and as you have greater restraints, you are considered in the sight of God as fit to be ranked with them.

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You and they are altogether the objects of loathing and abhorrence, and have the wrath of God abiding on you, and you will go with them, and be destroyed with them, if you do not escape from your present state.

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Yea, you are the same society, and the same company with the devils. And what he meant by that was demons, old

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English. For Sodom is not only the city of wicked men, but it's the hold of every foul spirit, referring to Revelation.

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You belong to that city which is appointed to an awful inevitable universal swift and sudden destruction, a city that hath a storm of fire and wrath hanging over it, and many of you are convinced of the awful state you were in while in Sodom, and are making some attempts to escape from the wrath which hangs over it.

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Let such be warned by what has been said, to escape for their lives and not to look back.

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Remember Lot's wife, Jesus told his disciples, he wasn't telling the world, he was telling his disciples, look not back unless you choose to have a share of the burning tempest that's coming down on that city.

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Look not back in remembrance of the enjoyments which you have had in Sodom, as hankering after the pleasant things which you have had there, after the ease and security and the pleasure which you have there enjoyed.

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We need to be awakened to these things all the time, don't we? The world allures us, and sin within us, there's a hearkening, and so how humble we should be knowing that a man's assessment of himself is prone to error.

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Our evaluation of others is not fully possible, because we can only consider what is visible, what is external.

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God knows the hearts. We know not what courses through another's mind or heart.

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This underscores what every true Christian should always remember and always affirm. All my righteousness is but filthy rags, but thankful I stand in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

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I am clothed through faith alone in him with a garment of righteousness which covers all my sin, even before the eyes of God, as he has purposed and promised.

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How reticent should we all be in passing judgment, either commending or condemning another.

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Let the Lord deal with the matter in his own good time. People pass judgment so quickly and easily.

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Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, it seemed to be plagued with a judgmental spirit, therefore judge nothing before the time until the

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Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the heart, and you and I are not capable of doing so.

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So we should give people the benefit of the doubt, and assume

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Christians are well -intentioned, and granted if they fail or fall, well, you know, let's pray for them, for if they were thinking rightly, doing right, they wouldn't have done that.

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Have pity on people, rather than pass judgment and marginalize and detract from them.

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So with these words of Jesus to these Pharisees who justified themselves, Jesus pronounced their just condemnation.

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And so may we take to heart our Lord's words and value most highly every word of God that we read in the

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Holy Scriptures, not be like these Pharisees, may we never make light of what is written or dismiss or degrade anyone who stands forth to declare this word in truth and sincerity.

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May the Lord help each of us not to fear fallen man or give regard to his values, assessments, and valuations.

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May we embrace Christ wholly, without reservation, always, even until the day he summons us into his presence.

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Well, the next saying of Jesus in this passage addresses the matter of the law and the kingdom. And again, it might appear at first to be disconnected.

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Jesus then declared after this denouncing of the Pharisees, the law and the prophets were until John.

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Since that time, the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing into it.

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And it's easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.

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Now we could probably spend weeks on the content and implications of these two verses.

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Perhaps there's no issue which has been so debated and has such implications for understanding the

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Bible, defining the Christian message and the nature of the Christian life, than the relationship between the law and the gospel.

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And that's what's being addressed here by Jesus. The nature of the promised kingdom and its relation to this church age and the second coming of Christ.

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I'm finishing a book right now that I've had on my shelf for several, several years,

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A Case for Amillennialism. It's a very good book by Riddle Barger. And I hope to finish it maybe this evening, got about 50 pages left.

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But it's a very, very complex issue. Well intentioned, well -meaning

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Christians differ on things. I found that this subject, law and gospel, and the nature of the kingdom in this church age, is perhaps the most difficult subject in the

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Bible to understand rightly. And as I reflect of my 52 years in Christ, I would say this is the one that I've been all over the map on for decades.

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And think I've only come down right maybe in the last 20 years or so, 25 years, thankfully.

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The fact is, sincere men and movements have differed significantly in their understanding and espousals respecting the matter of God's law,

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God's grace, and God's kingdom. First, Jesus addressed the authority of the

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Old Testament as holy scripture. The phrase, the law and the prophets, is what most

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Jews called the Hebrew scriptures, which we call the Old Testament.

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Hebrews didn't call it the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures, the law and the prophets. The Sadducees, of course, a small group, but they were leading

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Jews of the land, most of them controlled the temple and the Sanhedrin, they were

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Sadducees, they only believed the first five books of Moses to be scripture, the Torah, Genesis through Deuteronomy, the written word of God.

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And so they would have reacted to Jesus and rejected his assertion regarding the authority of the law and the prophets.

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The Pharisees would have agreed with Jesus about this. Actually the

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Hebrew scriptures, although containing the same substance as our Old Testament, has a different number of books and a different order in which the books are found.

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Our English Old Testament follows the order and content of the

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Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Septuagint. And so, whereas our

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Old Testament contains 39 books, the Hebrew scriptures contain 24 books, same content, different order of books and content of the books.

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And there are three divisions of the books of the Hebrew Bible. There's the Torah, first five books of the

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Bible, and then the prophets, and for the Hebrews that began with the former prophets, Joshua included,

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Judges, Samuel, and Kings, and then the latter prophets, but there are all the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and a book called the

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Twelve. We have 12 individual minor prophets, they had one book, the

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Twelve. And then thirdly, you have the third division of the Hebrew canon, which was the writings, the law, the prophets, and the writings.

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And when we get to Luke 24, we'll see Jesus affirm this threefold division of the

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Hebrew scriptures as Christian scripture. Well, not only did

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Jesus address the authority of the Old Testament, but we need to understand there are disagreements among Christians with respect to how authoritative the law of God is, that is the

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Old Testament scriptures, and how they are to be regarded as authoritative for the

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Christian. That's why the hymn we sang just before the sermon is so to point, reflecting the role of the law of God in the life of the

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Christian. Study that and you'll get biblical truth. Some claim the

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Old Testament is no longer authoritative scripture. In fact, you quote a verse of scripture from the

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Old Testament, that doesn't have anything to do with us, we're Christians of the New Testament, that's Jewish scripture, not

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Christian scripture. That's not what Jesus said. They argue that the

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Old Testament is completely superseded by Christ. Actually, there are different views about the abiding authority of the

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Old Testament for Christians. There are people who dismiss instruction because they argue it's taken from the

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Old Testament, as I just stated, but not the New Testament. To them, only the

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New Testament scriptures are Christian scriptures, and this is great error. When I first came here,

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I remember talking about the role of women. That's not the Bible, that's what Paul wrote, that's not what

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Jesus said. They even limited authoritative scripture to the words of red, written by Jesus.

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Incredible error. Others argue that because the law of Moses as a covenant was replaced by the new covenant

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Christ, that the law is no longer to govern the conduct of Christians. We're not under the law, we're under grace, they argue.

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And therefore, anything in the Old Testament doesn't apply. Still others claim that because Christ fulfilled the law on our behalf, and that the righteousness of Christ is reckoned to our account through faith alone, we no longer have any law, no list of do's or don'ts, to which we are obligated, we're under grace, not law.

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And so they refuse to receive instruction, or exhortation, or confrontation.

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They dismiss it, the authority of the word of God, because we're under grace.

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Which means, it doesn't matter how I live and what I do, because it's Christ, and Christ alone.

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There's a ring of attractiveness to there, but it's beset with terrible error, antinomianism.

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And then there are those who teach that Jesus Christ was the new law giver to whom we are to go, rather than obedience to the law of Moses, to Christ, the new law giver.

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And then, we would say, of course, most Reformed Christians understand that though the

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Mosaic law as a covenant was superseded by Christ and the new covenant, nevertheless, the moral law of God abides in its authority.

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And that certainly is what the scriptures teach, that's what Jesus taught here in these few verses.

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There are more possibilities and multitude of combinations, and when you think you've worked it all out, be careful, and come to me and inform me on some matters, too.

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It's a difficult, difficult issue, believe me. But I think I got it right, finally. So what does the

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Lord declare here in Luke 16, 16 through 18? First, the law of the prophets were until John the

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Baptist. He said that specifically. There's a distinction between the times before and after John the

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Baptist. Jesus said, the law and the prophets were until John. What this means, of course, is that the

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Old Testament scriptures look forward to the promised kingdom and prepared for its coming through the prophetic prediction, showing forth its necessity.

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But with the ministry of John the Baptist, the time to which the people of God longed and had arrived, the law and the prophets were until John.

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They prophesied, they promised, they foretold the coming of the kingdom. They were until John.

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But with John, the kingdom is at hand. That's the idea. Some have argued since Jesus said the law and the prophets were until John, that he was declaring that they had come to their finality, that the

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Hebrew scriptures were no longer the authoritative word of God for New Testament Christians. But what

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Jesus was asserting was that the realization of the hope set forth in the Hebrew scriptures had come to realization with the ministry of John the

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Baptist. The law and the prophets look forward to the promise of the messianic kingdom.

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And with John the Baptist, those times had arrived. The kingdom of God is at hand.

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I. Howard Marshall, who is a wonderful commentator on the Greek text of Luke, set forth the emphasis of these few verses.

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Verse 16 draws a distinction between the times before and after John the Baptist. The period of the law and the prophets has given place to the period during which the kingdom of God is the content of God's message to men.

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And everybody acts forcefully with regard to it. Nevertheless, according to verse 17, the law continues to remain valid down to the smallest detail.

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And he's absolutely right. Okay, Jesus isn't setting aside the law, he's doing just the opposite.

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He's affirming the role of the law continuing to abide as valid. This collocation of sayings lay stress on the second part, the abiding validity of the law.

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Verse 18 then serves as an example of the permanent force of the law. The stress then is on the continuing significance of the law in the time of the gospel.

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Luke's purpose is to underline the fact that the Pharisees and the disciples still stand under the law.

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And that is the force and emphasis of our Lord's words in verses 16 through 18.

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Now when we say the Old Testament continues to be authoritative scripture for New Testament Christians, several matters must be clearly understood.

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First, what Jesus asserted here is stated in 2 Timothy 3, 16, 17, when

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Paul wrote these words. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for teaching, for reproof, refuting error, correction, informing ignorance and correcting error, for instruction in righteousness.

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In other words, to instruct us on how to live before God. So that the man of God, Paul is writing to Timothy, so that you,

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Timothy, may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. He was preparing Timothy for pastoral ministry at the church at Ephesus.

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And so Paul wrote this, these two verses, before the books of the New Testament had been written and recognized in New Testament scripture.

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And therefore, Paul was writing of the Christian authority of our Old Testament. That's what verses 16 and 17 declare.

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He wasn't talking about the New Testament. We can apply it to the New Testament, certainly by extension. But he was talking about the inspired scriptures, our

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Old Testament, that fully equipped Timothy for church ministry that lie ahead of him in the church at Ephesus.

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Using the Old Testament scriptures, Timothy would teach doctrine, reprove correct error, and instruct

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Christians how to live godly lives. Couldn't be clearer. The abiding authority of the

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Old Testament. The Old Testament, technically, is not Hebrew scripture, it's Christian scripture.

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In fact, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3 and 4, you cannot understand the Old Testament until you see

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Christ on every page. And even now, the Jews have a veil over their face, just like Moses had a veil over his face.

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The Jews have a veil over their own face, they cannot understand their own scriptures. But when they come to Christ, that veil is taken away.

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And then they see the glory of the word of God in the Old Testament. The entire Bible, not just the

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New Testament, the entire Bible is Christian scripture. But you'd be surprised how few people among evangelicals really affirm that.

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However, when interpreting and applying the Old Testament scriptures to New Testament Christians, several matters must be kept in mind.

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Because many fail to do so, they view the law of God and its abiding authority wrongly.

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So what points can we make? First, one must interpret the Old Testament scriptures in the light of the new covenant, not in the light of the old covenant.

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What do we mean by that? Well, the word of God declares that when God inaugurated the promised new covenant, that it would be unlike the covenant that God made with Israel on Mount Sinai.

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There's a clear difference. Jeremiah 31, 31 and following, of course, so clearly speaks of the new covenant.

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Jeremiah promising that it would come. Didn't come until Christ. Behold, the days are coming, says the

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Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Dispensationalists argue, well, that hadn't been done yet, so that's going to be done after the rapture and during the tribulation,

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God will make a new covenant with Israel and Judah. No, no, no. Book of Hebrews said, Jesus, God made that with Jesus.

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To the house of Israel, to Judah and the house of Israel. All the apostles were

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Jews, all of the early church in Jerusalem were Jews. What it doesn't say in Jeremiah 31 is that a whole mass of Gentiles will also be brought in, but there's ample places where that's foretold.

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Jesus Christ did establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah with his

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Jewish apostles, but this new covenant will not according to the covenant

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I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. In other words, it's not like the

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Mosaic covenant, the 10 commandments. My covenant, which they broke, Israel broke, though I was a husband to them, says the

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Lord, but this is a covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the

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Lord. So this is the prophecy of the New Testament. The new covenant, Jesus said, this is the new covenant in my blood with the cup when the

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Lord's cup supper was established. I'll put my law in their minds. I'll write it on their hearts.

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I will be their God. They should be my people. That's covenant language. No more shall each man teach his neighbor and every man his brother saying, no, the

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Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord.

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And there they'll argue, no, that can't be now yet, because not everybody knows the Lord. Everybody in the new covenant knows the

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Lord. I don't have to come to tell you as a Christian, know the Lord. You already know him. Everyone in the new covenant knows the

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Lord savingly, is what this promise is. It doesn't say the whole world will know him.

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Those that are in the covenant know him, every one of them. Know the

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Lord, for they also know me from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin will remember no more.

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And so the new covenant is not like the old Mosaic covenant. The two covenants are not like one another.

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The older Mosaic covenant established God in a covenant relationship with the physical ethnic people of Israel, the

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Jewish people, the basis of the covenant. In other words, the condition of remaining in this covenant was to obey the 10 commandments as the rule of life.

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The 10 commandments itself was the covenant foundation and relationship between God and Israel.

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Moses had rehearsed this before his people just before he died. So he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform the 10 commandments.

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That was the Mosaic covenant. And so he wrote them on two tablets of stone. God promised to bless the people of Israel when they ordered their lives according to his commandments.

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But if they forsook his 10 commandments, if they broke their covenant with God, he'd bring upon them his curses.

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God's blessing or cursing was in accordance with their compliance or their disregard and transgressions of his law.

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And of course they broke that covenant. But the new covenant would be of a different nature with different stipulations.

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It's not like that covenant that God made with the Israelites when he brought them out of Egypt on Mount Sinai.

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The new covenant's not based on the people keeping God's laws, rather it's grounded on Jesus Christ keeping the law on their behalf.

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In the new covenant, the child of God comes to God through Christ in faith and his life is lived through faith in Jesus Christ.

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Under the new covenant, God writes his law not on two stone tablets as he had written the 10 commandments in the

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Mosaic covenant, but he writes his law upon the minds and hearts of his people that he's redeemed unto himself.

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Those under the new covenant know the Lord, every one of them. His people have

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God's law written on their hearts, every one of them. And what that is, of course, is a desire to conform their thinking and living to the righteousness of God.

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When we were converted, we no longer want to please ourselves and live in sin, fighting against God, but rather now we want to live for God and we fight against sin.

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Everything changed. We're still plagued by sin, but that's not what governs our lives.

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Christ governs our lives. And by the way, I wanted to interject this.

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This is one of our strongest reasons that we oppose infant baptism. Paedobaptists, and that's not a derogatory term they call themselves, paedo is a

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Latin word for child or infant. Paedobaptists claim that not only true believers, but their children also.

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Children of believing parents are members of the new covenant. They call them covenant children if you're born into a

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Christian family. And so if dad or mom is a Christian, then the child is regarded in the covenant.

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But we argue that only regenerate souls, those who are born again, who know the

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Lord savingly, who have God's law written on their hearts are members of the new covenant in Christ. Children just like adults enter the new covenant through regeneration.

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That is the second birth, not through natural generation or the physical birth. That's how people entered the old covenant.

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People enter the new covenant by a new birth, not by a physical birth. And it's so clear in the

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New Testament, persons enter the new covenant when God performs a circumcision of the heart, a circumcision made without hands, in other words, by God, not by physical birth and infant baptism, which is performed by physical hands.

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It seems to be so clear to me. But by the way,

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I have a biography that is on my to -do list, a read list, and I just got it last week, and it's by a

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Presbyterian for 35 years, very popular, well -known preacher in Britain.

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But in his latter years, he became convinced of Baptistic convictions.

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So he resigned his Presbyterian church, he lost his livelihood and everything, and he became a pastor of a little

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Baptist church for the last decade of his life. He wrote a book, a treatise on baptism, and Charles Spurgeon wrote the introduction to it and commended the life of this man and what a great example he was.

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And so I've got that on my to -read list. A second principle of interpreting

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God's law in the Old Testament for New Testament Christians is to acknowledge that the new covenant

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Christianity community is a spiritual nation that knows no earthly bound borders, no laws of a civil political nature, and no ceremonial types and shadows that foreshadowed and are fully realized in Jesus Christ.

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It's different. And so the Old Testament laws of God were three general categories.

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There were ceremonial laws, obviously, all the sacrifices and the priesthood and everything, those were fulfilled in Christ, which rendered all those ceremonial laws no longer binding or to be observed by Christians.

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Shouldn't be burning incense, the Bible doesn't teach that or any of the other ceremonial practices of the

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Old Testament. And then there are civil laws, Israel as a political nation. It was a theocratic nation, in other words,

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God was its king. The nation of Israel was a political nation, but it was a

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God to be a godly nation. But the church isn't that way. We're not a physical political nation.

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The church is not to impose these civil laws upon our society or upon unregenerate people.

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If you violated the principle of the Sabbath today, we don't take you out and stone you.

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That was a civil law that was in force in Israel, but we're under a new covenant.

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We don't have political... And so all the authority the church has is not to, you know, execute people and all governments in the past that have been dominated by the church, they've resorted to that, okay?

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But rather, the only authority you and I have as a church is either to admit or to remove members from the local church.

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And that's what puts people outside and under the judgment of God. And so when you read the

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Old Testament, you have to take this into consideration. Because there are people today who think that really the true kingdom of God has not yet arrived, they're post -millennial.

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It won't occur until we take over the world and impose the Mosaic law upon the nations of the world.

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And so they want to reenact all of those Mosaic laws, including capital punishment for anything and everything that you can imagine, even gathering sticks on a

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Sabbath day. That's dangerous. However, a third division of the law, there are moral laws which continue to be the binding as a rule of life for Christians, which are summarily recorded in the

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Ten Commandments. Paul affirmed the abiding authority of the Ten Commandments.

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He restated a number of them in Romans 13. If you're following our Bible reading chart, you read it yesterday,

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I believe. Or maybe it was this morning. Might have been this morning, I forget. But Romans 13, for the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet.

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And if there is any other commandment, all the Ten Commandments he's alluding to, he states, identifies five of them specifically, are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbors yourself.

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Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

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But the law is still authoritative. So Paul spoke of five specific commandments and then referred if there's any others.

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He affirmed the abiding authority of the Old Testament commandments for New Testament Christians to the church at Rome, Romans 13.

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A third principle that must be affirmed and preserved when understanding the Old Testament law of God for the Christian life is to know and affirm that our goal in life is not to impose the moral law upon the people of the world and bring the world in conformity with God's laws.

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But some people, they see that as their mission. We're told we're supposed to have dominion over the world, and to them that means we impose biblical laws and values upon the world.

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Again, this is post -millennialism on the part of some post -millennialists, not all. So our mandate is to proclaim, our true biblical mandate is to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God over which

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King Jesus reigns as Lord and through whom alone is the salvation of sinners. That if they repent of their sin and trust and submit to Jesus as their

01:00:13

Lord and Savior, they can have salvation. You cannot, you know, when the church at Jerusalem was asked, what do we impose on the

01:00:23

Gentile Christians up at Antioch, you know, and it was concluded, why do we put the mosaic, you know, all the ceremonial and civil laws upon these

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Gentiles when we ourselves couldn't keep them, rather the gospel was to be their governing principle of the

01:00:42

Christian life. And by the way, as we call upon people to submit to Jesus as Lord, you'll hear people refute or try and refute lordship salvation, and so they'll argue that we call for people to make

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Jesus Christ their Lord. No, we don't. What we declare to them that Jesus Christ is

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Lord and you'd better come to see it and submit to it. You don't make

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Christ Lord, he is Lord. And if you're an unbeliever, you're under the wrath of God.

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Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God as Father, and people have to believe, need to believe or submit to it or perish.

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Again, you know, this is God's world, God's universe, and there's only one God, and that's not you, it's not me,

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Jesus is Lord. And that's the gospel of the kingdom, that's the heart of our gospel message,

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Jesus is Lord. Well, secondly, since John, including John, the gospel of the kingdom is being preached.

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Jesus said, since that time the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing into it.

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That time is Jesus referring to the ministry of John the Baptist. Now, interestingly, our

01:02:06

New King James Version has the verse translated a little differently than the ESV. Our New King James Version says, since that time the kingdom of God had been preached, but the

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ESV adds the words, the good news, since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached.

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And so I look kind of carefully at this, and it's clear to me that the English Standard Version translators,

01:02:31

ESV translators, were influenced by the form of the verb translated has been preached. And it is a

01:02:38

Greek verb, evangelicete. Now you might hear in the first few syllables, even, we get the word evangelical.

01:02:48

And the Greek word actually speaks about proclaiming good news. And so it really is in context, the good news of the kingdom.

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And so the ESV, I think, is a good translation here. Since that time,

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Jesus says the good news of the kingdom has been proclaimed. And that's absolutely right. And so there are a number of references, the gospel of the kingdom we proclaim.

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The gospel of the kingdom is the gospel of Jesus Christ. But then we have this rather strange word, everyone is forcing his way into it.

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I thought all you have to do is believe. But I don't see the kind of Christianity declared by many of these days as reflecting the teaching here.

01:03:35

If you want to talk about a sinner simply trusting Jesus with his or her sins, well, yes, we can speak of the simplicity of the gospel, and we probably should.

01:03:44

But on the other hand, entering the kingdom requires great effort. It's all of grace. But it requires great effort.

01:03:51

Think about Christian and pilgrim's progress from the city of destruction to the celestial city.

01:03:58

He was moving toward the full realization of that kingdom. And there was a lot of conflict and a lot of difficulty he had to overcome obstacles and trials.

01:04:08

Our initial entering the kingdom when converted was a great event, often with great distress and struggle.

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Man, that was a battle. Me fighting against God until he beat me, you know, in January of 1972, but distress and struggle.

01:04:25

But after the violence of getting in, it's a violent path we now follow. Every day it's a battle, isn't it?

01:04:33

We battle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. And it's with violence, spiritual violence.

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Thankfully, however, we may be assured that our savior will equip us and sustain us in our conflict, securing our entrance into his heavenly kingdom.

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But it's of spiritual violence. Well, I'm not going to read down through that. You have it in your notes. Thomas Watson famously wrote, heaven taken by storm, showing the holy violence a

01:05:02

Christian is to put forth in the pursuit after glory. And I listed the chapter titles, which are quite suggestive in and of themselves.

01:05:10

The kind of violence that we are to put forth as Christians, we're fighting and struggling against sin and Satan, mostly against ourselves, you know, to follow that narrow path that leads unto life, as Jesus said in Matthew 7, 14.

01:05:28

And then the last page, there is a continuing authority of the law for Christians under the gospel.

01:05:34

And we want to, this is the affirmation of Jesus. The abiding nature of the law is declared elsewhere,

01:05:41

Jesus said, surely, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away. That hadn't happened yet.

01:05:47

One jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

01:05:52

He's talking about the Hebrew scriptures. And so in whatever way you deal with the issue of law and grace, it must be consistent with this statement of Jesus.

01:06:01

It's false to think that because the law and prophets were until John that the law no longer has abiding significance.

01:06:08

Luke's gospel declares the law has lost none of its validity despite the coming of the kingdom.

01:06:14

And Marshall is absolutely right. The gospel of the kingdom of God does not give a license for people to live any way they please without consequences.

01:06:23

The gospel of the kingdom of God with its good news of Christ Jesus as Lord and savior who gives the

01:06:29

Holy Spirit to his followers, moves and enables people to live in a manner consistent with Old Testament law, not perfect conformity, but consistency.

01:06:41

That's the way Christ would have us live. God's moral law. We have to say a word about this last saying, but we have to stop.

01:06:50

My word, the time, where's it go? An example, he gives an example of the abiding authority of the law of God has to do with marriage and divorce.

01:06:59

Verse 18, whoever divorces his wife, marries another, commits adultery, and whoever marries her who's divorced from her husband commits adultery.

01:07:09

And so our Lord indicated that God's law respecting divorce and remarriage is abiding. God created marriage, one man, one woman for life until death do we part.

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And if a man or woman violates this, they're committing adultery.

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A woman for her violation commits adultery, and the man too. There's quite an amazing thing here.

01:07:38

Both the man and woman are put on an equal plane here. Each one is guilty.

01:07:44

The law of God abides. And I have to say this. We don't have time to deal with the teaching of our

01:07:49

Lord in Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 where he speaks about the exception clause that a person sins in divorcing and remarrying unless the divorce was due to adultery.

01:08:03

We would argue it's ongoing adultery. But we would say that when a Christian, and this happens with many, many, many people in the church, when a

01:08:12

Christian comes to Christ and discovers from God's word that he or she had been divorced and remarried in the past in violation of God's law, the right and appropriate response before God is to acknowledge it.

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Yeah, I see now I was wrong. I certainly see the consequences in life and the hurt and problems that result.

01:08:35

But I thank God through Jesus Christ that he's pardoned me for this. And then purpose to order your present marriage in a biblical manner to the glory of God.

01:08:44

And be at peace in that. God restores the day of the locust. And every Christian can have a wonderfully blessed marriage in this life regardless of the past because the

01:08:56

Lord restores people through Christ. The whole point here is that the law of God abides.

01:09:02

Whatever the gospel of the kingdom of God is, it gives no license to violate God's commandments. God's law is the rule of life for the

01:09:09

Christian. It was Paul the Christian who wrote at the end of Romans 7, Paul the apostle who wrote, so then with my mind,

01:09:18

I myself serve the law of God. Nevertheless, he says,

01:09:24

I got a problem with sin. With my flesh, the law of sin. The law of God was on his mind.

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This is what governed his thinking. He wasn't under the law as a covenant. No, he's under Christ, thankfully.

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But he was under the law as a moral standard of life that is true of the

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Christian life. And so in conclusion, with respect to our stewardship, because we're living in this world, this secular world, we're so easily diverted from priorities.

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Let's get them right. And the fact that we're drawn away, of course, so easily from the things of God, the law of God, let us resolve and reaffirm afresh.

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God's word is going to govern my thinking and my life. And I'm not going to let the devil or my own heart draw me away from it.

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God, let God be true and every man a liar. And Lord, you know, may you,

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I acknowledge my failure in so many different ways, but thank you for Jesus Christ, who kept your law perfectly on my behalf.

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And I stand clothed in his righteousness and not my own, and his garment of righteousness covers all my sin.

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And on the day of judgment, when I stand, I'm not going to have to answer for my sin in a condemning way, but rather I'll be clothed with the righteousness of Christ standing before Jesus Christ, the judge.

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It will be fully exonerated, and therefore, the day of judgment for the

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Christian is not to be feared, it's to be welcomed. We'll be able to bring great glory to God for him having saved us as sinners through Jesus Christ alone, amen?

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Thank you, Father, for your word. Help us, our God, to understand it more clearly.

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There are so many issues, our God, and so many spiritual minefields which can blow up in our face.

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Guide us and direct us in the way of truth, joy, and peace, which is a life lived out in your will, set forth in your holy word, the entire

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Bible, the word of God. For we do pray these things, Father, in Jesus' name, amen.