We're still in Luke chapter 11.
One guy was shocked.
We're in Luke 11? I already read 12. What are you doing?
So, but it's some pretty good stuff, actually.
So would you stand, and we're going to read this just to, we don't do that often, but I might get windy today.
You never know.
Although I didn't go to the bathroom, so I'm probably going to have to cut it short.
we're going to start we're going to start we're going to we're going to start in uh luke chapter
11 verse 37 and as he spoke a certain pharisee asked him to dine with him so he went in and sat down to
eat and when the Pharisees saw it he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner 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, did not he who made the outside make the inside also, but rather give alms of such things as you have than indeed all things are clean to you. But woe to you, Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue in all manner of herbs and pass by justice.
and the love of God.
These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone.
Woe to you, Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the
marketplaces.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees hypocrites.
For you are like graves which are not seen, and men who walk over them are not aware of them.
Then one of the lawyers answered and said to him, teacher, by saying these things you
reproach us also.
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 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 and you
build their tombs therefore the wisdom of god also said 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.
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 and did not enter in yourselves,
and those who were entering in you hindered. And as he said these things to them,
the scribes and 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.
Lord, this is your word and it's powerful and it's sharp.
And Lord, you didn't pull any punches, Lord, and you're going to call all of us into account just with that generation,
just like you did these Pharisees and these lawyers.
And so, Lord, may we take heed in these days in which we live, that our relationship with you, Lord,
that wouldn't be something that's just religious, Lord, but it would be real.
And that the love of God and justice would rule and reign in our lives, Lord, that we would walk in your righteousness,
knowing we have none of our own.
Bless our time, we pray, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Thank you.
So last time we looked at letting that light shine.
Amen. And I think I even sing a little verse, right? This little bite of mine.
Yeah, I'm okay. Me and two-year-olds get along really well.
But to this generation, he says this generation, this generation will be judged more harshly being condemned by those in the past.
Right? The Ninevites, it says, will rise up in the judgment because they repented at the preaching of Jonah.
They heard in 40 days, judgment's coming.
And everything repented.
Even the animals, right?
They didn't feed them.
They didn't let them drink.
They didn't do anything.
They mourned before the Lord.
And the Lord says that these Ninevites, who were Gentiles, by the way.
Right?
Anytime Jesus talked about Gentiles, it just galled the Pharisees and the lawyers.
just galled them.
Like, how dare you talk about a Samaritan or a bona fide Gentile
that's good for nothing but the fires of hell?
That's the only thing they're good for.
And that's not true, don't we know, right?
Some people feel that way about people in eastern Idaho.
And it ought not to be.
Because anytime you point the first,
finger, just remember there's three more pointing right back at you. And also the queen of Sheba,
she traveled a long ways to see the wisdom of Solomon. And Jesus told us,
greater than Solomon is here. And so that generation that saw Jesus walk this earth,
shame on them. But if that's true for them, what about us? Because listen, they've been trying to
disprove this thing.
for 2,000 years, and they've gotten nowhere.
So we might be lumped in with them.
Because they were a privileged generation
because they seen face to face the true goat.
That's a real popular term today, the goat.
Have you guys heard that?
Greatest of all time.
There's only one goat.
His name is Jesus, and he was the scapegoat that carried your sins and my sins away, right?
Everyone else pales in comparison.
But they saw him face to face.
They saw his miracles.
They saw the raising of the dead and the healing of the blind and the healing of the sick and the lame.
They saw it all.
The greater than the greatest of all time was there.
and they overlooked him.
Have you?
So he was
that incredible example
that they saw with their own eyes
and yet they rejected him
and shame on anyone who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul tells us in Corinthians he says,
listen, if anyone loved not the Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be anathema, cursed, condemned to hell.
It's a requirement to love him.
The thing about it is, is when you love somebody, you have to do it by choice.
Because if you don't do it by choice, then it's not love.
And he calls us to love him.
The first great commandment, love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength.
And so he gets this invite from this Pharisee here over in verse 37.
And there's conjecture on why the guy really, I mean, obviously it looks like he was,
it wasn't necessarily an invite to dinner.
It was an invite to a trap, right?
They wanted to see if they could catch him.
But Jesus is so willing.
Sure.
Yeah.
I'll come.
I'm down.
It's kind of like the cowboy guitarist,
you know, old cowboy singer,
got invited by a rapper
to come and do a pre-super Bowl show.
Was it last night?
Last night, I think, in San Francisco,
a guy by the name of Dave Stamey.
If you ever want to hear some good old cowboy music,
go check out Dave.
but he he said yeah I'll come so Dave shows up with rapper and there's the dude with this
you know he's got a cigarette and he's bling going on and here's Dave he's a cowboy hat and he's
you know he's game we need to be game it's like we can't just get stuck in our little
Christian circles and sing kumbaya right it's time to get out and and be salt and light
go out into the word be willing Jesus he didn't have a problem with it
He knew who these people were.
He knew who everybody was, right?
Tells us in the Gospel of Dawn,
Jesus did not give himself over to man.
Why?
Because he knew what was in man.
He knows within you and in me.
He knows it.
He's not intimidated by it.
He's not totally disgusted by it,
though we are totally disgusting sometimes.
So he knew they were going to trap him,
but obviously he's God, so he's not really concerned.
But he's willing to go and to maybe impart truth just by chance that somebody might come to a place where they would humble themselves.
So their true colors were obviously revealed immediately in verse 38.
It says when the Pharisee saw it that he marveled that he had not washed before.
dinner, right? And this was, this was a serious thing as far as these religious people were,
were concerned. He didn't wash his hands. Now, the old English preacher John Trapp quotes,
quotes, a, um, an thought here where it says, this not washing your hands thing, it says, the Pharisees deemed it as
a great as sin as to commit fornication.
Really?
Holy cow, I've been a fornicator my whole life.
Because I don't ever wash my hands.
Could you imagine being that?
The really strict Jew would not do this.
would do this only before the meal,
but also between each course throughout the meal.
Oh, got to go worse.
So they would be squeak.
The rabbis were deadly serious about this,
saying that bread eaten with unwashed hands
was no better than excrement.
The rabbi who once failed to do this
was considered excommunicated.
Another rabbi was imprisoned by the Romans and used his ration of water for ceremony cleansing instead of drinking, nearly dying of thirst.
But being regarded as a great hero, I think being regarded as a stupid individual.
If these religious leaders were concerned about cleansing their hearts as they were about cleansing our hands, they would have been a lot of.
more godly man. Amen. And so the Lord, he kind of calls him on that. And people often look to
these rituals, right, as something that can cleanse us. Can't cleanse you. Can't cleanse you.
right you do it as an expression of your commitment to the god of heaven baptism doesn't cleanse you
a lot of people that get baptized if they're not sincere and have an understanding of
what baptism is all about they go down and they come up and they're just as bad off as they were
before because they haven't repented there hasn't been a washing on the inside
Some people think that they're good with God
because they have a Bible on the nightstand.
This got like this much dust on it.
It is fascinating to me the things that people deem.
It's like a good luck charm that God has to honor
a St. Christopher medal or a cross around your neck.
No.
Because that's all.
word, right? God looks at the heart. That's what he's wanting from you is your heart.
And so Jesus says this to him in 39. He says, and the 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. Right? You put on your robes, your Pharisee robes, and you, and you're,
and your shawls, and you walk around, look at me.
Aren't I so cool?
And I am close with God, and you are not.
I do that quite well, don't I?
You look okay on the outside, right?
We live in a culture here in Eastern Idaho.
A lot of them look really cool on the outside.
styling, man, every hair in place.
White shirt, tie, suit coat.
You're good with God, man.
Not.
But inside, notice what he says, he says,
but inside you're full of greed and wickedness.
Greed.
It means extortion,
ravening, spoiling, plundering, taking.
You're just taking.
You're going through this life,
taking as much as you can get.
And Jesus has called us to do the opposite, right?
Greater love has no one than this,
that he lays down his life for his friend.
Give it up, man.
We had dinner with some folks the other night,
and these people are so much closer to God than I am.
They talked about giving homes to people.
I'm real, my home's my retirement.
And I'm just thinking, but that's just it.
God has challenged you and me in this.
You can't out give him.
Try.
Go ahead and try.
And these people have tried and they can do it.
But not take.
God hasn't called us to take.
He's called us to hold everything loosely,
realizing that it all comes from him anyway. And wickedness means depravity, especially malice.
They're stinking mean people. You ever seen people like that in church? I've seen people who've
been blessed with the Holy Spirit and have these spiritual gifts, but they're the meanest people I've
ever seen in my life. I'm just like, where's the love of God in your life? Yeah, you have
giftings, but you're still stinking mean. Nobody wants to even get close to you. Then you're
why you don't have friends.
To have friends, the Bible says you've got to be friendly.
So he says, this is what you have.
You have greed and wickedness, and you've overlooked.
You foolish ones, he says here in verse 40.
He says, did not he who made the outside make the inside also,
but rather give alms to such things.
as you have, then indeed all things will be clean to you.
He says, you're full of greed and wickedness.
You've overlooked justice and the love of God.
But he said, if you would give, right, if you would give, if even a little bit,
you would kind of hold loosely, right, you would make those things clean.
Because there's something about giving that deals with our,
natural greed because we are naturally, I don't care who you are, right? And don't come down on me
this because I'm pointing something out that we all struggle with and it's greed. Right? We are greedy.
And that's a monster, a demon we have to fight, right? Constantly. We don't want to give.
But Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive.
And so he tells these guys, listen, your gifts can be clean if you'll just hold things loosely and give,
but rather give alms of such things as you have.
So give of your substance, whatever you have.
He's not saying give what you don't have.
He says, whatever you have, give.
And that really does check us.
when we give. And I think that's why the Lord gave us this opportunity throughout scripture
to give a tithe, which means a tenth, or to give an offering, which is just whatever the Lord
lays on your heart, because then it teaches you, you can live life like this with your hands open.
You don't have to live life like this. It's not healthy.
And so he calls them out, and then he says, whoa.
but woe to you verse 42 Pharisees for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs and passed by justice and the love of God these you ought to have done without leaving the others undone this word woe is pretty serious Jesus is he's coming down on they're getting a hind chewing from the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings here
Because these guys, right, these guys, though they honor him with their lips, their hearts are far from him.
And some of you remember the Lord saying that.
Titus chapter 1, verse 16, has that same idea where it says they profess to know God,
but in works they deny him being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
but in works they deny him.
They say they love God, but then just watch their life.
Have you ever watched somebody's life and you just think, wow, there's something up with that person.
They've got something good going on in their life.
I need to find out what it is.
And most of the time, they love Jesus.
So Jesus says to give.
verse 42 that first woe in the greek the word it conveys an intense exclamation of grief
dread or denunciation woe we see that in the book of revelation right the woes woe to you
and woe to us when the lord says that to us for our hypocrisy you go through your religious motions
with mint and rue and ignore the love and the justice of God.
The Pharisees were so careful in their outward obedience
that they would literally tithe from their herb gardens,
counting out seeds and leaves,
and giving a tenth of each to God.
That's kind of just self-centered, right?
That's not giving.
No, that's...
I'm good because I gave 10%
of my cucumbers to the Lord.
They would go to church and prayer meetings and Christian concerts,
but walk right by the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, and imprisoned.
And that's, right, that's who Jesus ministered to.
And that was his, that was his, that was his,
condemnation in the sheep and goat judgment. And that's in Matthew chapter 25. If you got a Bible,
go ahead and turn there real quick. We'll read through that. In Matthew chapter 25 in verse 41,
this is the sheep and goat judgments. And I just want to say, you don't want to be a goat. You want to be a sheep.
And in verse 41 of Matthew chapter 25, he says, then he will say to those on his left hand, this is the Lord.
He will say to those on his left hand, depart from me, you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Notice who it's prepared for, this everlasting fire for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food.
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.
I was a stranger and you did not take me in naked.
you did not clothe me, sick and in prison, and you did not visit me.
Then they also will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty,
a stranger or naked or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you?
And then he will answer them saying, surely I say to you, and as much as you did not do it to one
of the least of these, you did not do it to me.
And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Yeah, there's been a little buzz lately about, oh, there's no hell.
Really?
And they will go to that place of everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
You know, God didn't make hell for you and me.
But there's some you and me is going to hell.
He talked more about hell than he did heaven.
Jesus did.
and these will go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous to eternal life.
To see all this is kind of, for what?
If there's no hell, there's no consequences for a self-satisfying life?
No, there's consequences.
Guaranteed.
He guaranteed it right here.
and then he goes right into a second woe there in verse 43.
He says,
woe to you Pharisees,
for you love the best seats in the synagogue
and greetings in the marketplaces.
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.
So he says,
first he says you like to be seen you like to be noticed you go right the old the old
pound on the chest thing i think i'm more tolerable of those those young 22 something year old
kids that do that in the end zone than i am with a religious person saying look at me as a pastor
I don't really want people looking at me because I know that if they look very close,
they're going to see all my faults and my failures.
They're going to see all my sin.
And I could be the cause of somebody stumbling.
That really bothers me because I want people, no, don't look at me, please.
Look at Jesus.
You look at Jesus?
You can't go wrong.
He won't let you down.
I will.
You will.
will let people down.
But these people, there was this spiritual pride.
I hate it when I see it myself.
And so they would, you know, have their philactories and their, you know,
some of them wore hats with, with scripture on it.
And I'm so cool because I'm right with God and you're not.
Isaiah talks about it in Isaiah 5.
He says, therefore, hell or shield has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure.
Their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he who is jubilant shall descend into it.
This spiritual pride was.
the fall of Satan.
Right?
You read about it in Ezekiel chapter 28.
He was that anointed cherub.
And all of a sudden he got this,
this puffiness that caused him to say,
oh, I'm going to ascend above the most high.
I'm going to be, I will, I will, I will, I will.
And God says, no, you won't.
No, you won't.
He casts down spiritual pride.
So humility is definitely the way to go, lest he say to you and I, whoa.
That third woe is there in verse 44.
We just read it.
Touching a grave, right, you walk over dead man's graves without knowing it.
But touching a grave, whether they knew it or not, made them unclean.
Unclean for seven days.
They had to be away from society.
for seven days
because they had been close
to something dead.
And Jesus is saying,
listen, you guys are unclean
and you don't even know it.
And isn't that the case
with so many?
I know when I was in the
depth of wickedness,
I could say to myself in my heart,
Scotty, you're a pretty good guy.
Right?
You're a pretty good guy.
But that wasn't reality.
That wasn't reality at all.
I had walked over a lot of dead people's graves, figuratively, and literally, because I worked in a cemetery, so I had a lot of people under me.
So he's kind of railing on these on these Pharisees.
And then he,
and then in verse 45,
after this lawyerhood stood up and said,
you,
this lawyer stands up in verse 45 sorry it says then one of the lawyers answered and said to him
teacher by saying these things you reproach us also he's going you're hurting our feelings right you're
insulting us well if the shoe fits wear it right i mean that's that's how what i heard growing up
just if if you got it coming you got it coming
and the scribes and the lawyers worked in tandem right the lawyers detailed the law and then the
Pharisees would push or enforce it and so this this lawyer he he he he's saying wow he's indirectly
coming at us because we're the ones who's writing this stuff down that you know that you can't
eat without washing your hands or it's like committing adultery, which you guys know the
penalty for adultery in the law. It was right. It was stony. You killed them. And so no doubt,
no wonder they were so upset, the Mishnah lays it down that it is more important to
observe the scribal interpretation than the law itself. They would interpret.
just crazy things they would write it basically in into the law and so this lawyer says to jesus
you reproach us right you you insult us for example they taught on the sabbath right a man could not
carry something in his right hand or his left hand across his chest or on his shoulder but
you could carry something with the back of your hand, with your foot, or with your elbow,
or with your ear, or your hair, or in the hem of your skirt, or your shoe or your sandal.
Right. So they try to make all these loopholes in the law where you could get away with doing stuff.
And you can just see the Lord going, are you kidding me?
Right?
All these things, all these amendments they were making.
And so this lawyer comes to Jesus, and Jesus says to me in verse 46,
woe to you, lawyers, for you load men with burdens hard to bear,
and you yourselves do not touch the burden with one of your fingers.
You've been around people like that?
Hey, go do that.
My brother Rick says I used to be like that.
Rick, go me up to goat.
Rick, go feed the horses.
Rick?
Right?
You see it.
Any Savage Sam watchers?
Who's here has ever seen the movie Savage Sam?
It is the sequel to Old Yeller.
Oh my gosh.
Are you guys Americans?
Okay, go online. I do not make many movie recommends.
Go online and watch Travis and Arlis, right?
It is not near as sad as old yeller.
And Mr. Searcy, right?
They're all in it.
Everybody's in it.
Savage Sam, the sequel to Old Yeller.
But that's what Travis got accused from Arliss about doing, right?
That he was just making him do everything and he didn't do anything to help.
Just kick back and drink his iced tea and tell his little brother what to do.
You've been around people like that.
You've probably been a person like that, just like me.
And that's what Jesus is saying.
You're putting this huge yoke on these people and you're not how.
open it all. That's what the church leaders came in the book of Acts to say, how can we put the yoke
on these Gentiles who are getting saved? We're going to put the yoke of the law on them
that we nor our fathers could keep. Nobody could keep the law. And you're going to put that on
them? Just worry about you. God will deal with them. You just worry about you. Do what you can do.
to bring glory to the Lord to lend a hand to your neighbor.
Not heaping loads on people and not being willing, willing to help.
I love the story of a officer in the Revolutionary War
that came up and the horses were getting tired.
And so the soldiers had to come in behind it
as the wagon in the battle was going up the hill.
And one of the officers was riding back and forth
around the wagon telling him,
come on, push, push, push, and he's horseback.
And all of a sudden another officer comes up
and jumps off his horse and starts pushing with the soldiers.
It was Washington.
It was General George,
Washington, right?
Practice in what he preached.
No, you help.
The other officer thought that was below him.
Really, is anything below us?
Because you and I, we're lower than a snake belly's in a tire rut.
That's a Gordon Boyle quote, by the way.
He's no, you, you, you help, right?
You won't help with one of your fingers.
And then verse 47, he says,
woe to you, 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 and you build their tombs. Therefore, the wisdom of God also said, 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
able to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple.
I say to you, yes, it shall be required of this generation.
He says, yeah, your dads were just as wicked as you, and they killed the prophets,
and then you're going to do it.
Jesus gives a prophetic word there where he says, I sent apostles to you.
They're going to kill the followers of Jesus.
Not only that, but they're going to kill Jesus.
They're going to shed all this blood.
Notice, the blood cries out.
The blood cries out.
Abel and Genesis, you remember when the Lord comes to Cainty, he says,
where's your brother?
His blood cries out to me.
Zachariah, he said, as they were killing him, Lord, remember this.
His blood's crying out.
What about the 60 million babies that we've butchered in the womb?
You don't think their blood cries out to the Lord, their maker?
I don't know about you, but that just horrifies me to think.
Because the life is in the blood.
Those babies with blood running through their veins are alive.
They are life.
And life is God's to give.
It just seems to be getting worse, doesn't it, as we go along?
Spirreing down and down and down.
They profess to venerate dead prophets,
but they rejected the living prophets,
the apostles and Jesus the greatest prophet.
In doing so, they showed that they really were the children of those who murdered the
in the days of old.
You approve of the deeds of your father.
We express the same thought when we think that we would have trusted Jesus more than his
disciples did or been more faithful to him.
You ever thought about that?
Well, if I would have been back there walking with Jesus and talking with Jesus and seeing
Jesus do all these things, I would have never.
forsaken him?
I think I just read that
about Peter, right?
He said, I'll never, I'll die
with you, liar.
He ran like a scared
cat, and so did all the rest.
If we're going to have any courage
to face death for the sake of the Lord,
it's going to have to be him that does it, right?
Just like it's been him that has cleaned us up and forgiven us
and given us righteousness and given us faith,
it's going to have to be him that does it.
Because you and I ain't got that much brass, folks.
I was shocked when back, what was it, about 10 years ago,
the shooting at Unqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon,
the city of my birth.
And the gunman was in there.
And he saw a young lady,
there. I think she had a cross or something. He said, you a Christian? And it had to have been the
spirit of the Lord because she said, yes, I am. He goes stand up. So she stood up. Boom. Headshot her.
Killed her. He says, anyone else? And that the guy says, yep, I am. Stand up. Boom. Headshot him.
That's the power of the Lord, folks. That's what he wants. That's what he wants.
wants you and me to have in our hearts.
It's his power.
Because we ain't got it.
We're wannies, we're weanies,
we're weak-hearted.
We got no spine.
We're yeller.
And yet,
he'll show up
and he'll give us the strength
and whatever we need.
if we'll simply be humble for him and ask.
You know, James tells us, you have not, because you ask not.
And so this blood is going to cry out.
Verse 52, he says,
woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge.
You did not enter in yourselves,
And those who were entering in, you hindered.
You lawyers.
You guys are writing this stuff down and it's leading people away from me
because they believe what you're telling them.
It's interesting, that word there, he says,
you have hidden the keys of knowledge.
The word for knowledge here, you guys, is science.
Science.
That's what science means knowledge.
Where does all knowledge come from?
God.
Right?
So these liberal, insane scientists
have been telling us these lies
for years and years.
Right?
That's just from the goo to you.
That it just happened.
That's such a lie.
They've hidden the keys of science.
Because God holds the keys, folks.
Last time I looked, Jesus held the keys for everything.
And it's almost comical because the scientific elites of today move people away from the Lord,
and yet there have been many believers that were incredible scientists.
Newsom?
Noosan.
Newton.
God, I've been watching too much Fox News.
Did you guys hear, by the way, that he may not.
even be on the ballot.
Newsom may not even be on the ballot because in California it's the two popular candidates that
get a run for governor. And he's down the line of ways. Steve Hilton's the guy on top right now
who is the two top guys are Republicans. So it might be two Republicans running for, because
it's not partisan in California. That's weird, but we'll take it if it gets him out. I meant,
Newton, Isaac Newton, what goes up must come down. Write that guy. Other scientists named
Mendel and Faraday and Pascal, along with modern scientists like Francis Collins and James
Tour. Tours got all kinds of videos out. You ought to check this dude out. He's a born-again Jew
has written, I don't know, some 50 scientific papers, has won every prize an American scientist
can win, and he's a professor at Rice University, and he is crazy about Jesus. And this guy is
brilliant. He's into the nanotechnology that they make these little machines that can go in
and eat tumors. He's a brilliant guy. He's fun to listen to. No nonsense. But it's like they come in,
and they do it with our kids and the schools. Oh, no, your ancestors will
a orangutan.
I tell people,
they taught me how I evolved
from a monkey in school and then they wonder
why I acted like one.
Actually, I needed no help.
It was a good excuse, though.
Jesus was pretty fired up here, right?
With these woes.
and look what he says to him in Matthew 2315.
It's kind of a powerful scripture.
It says,
woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.
Hypocrat was the, you know,
a lot of people use that excuse for not coming to church, right?
A hypocrite.
Hypocrat meant in the Greek it meant mask wear.
The people, you know, they had the little mask
with a handhold on it and they would put the mask.
mask on when they were in character. And that's what a hypocrite is. It's saying something,
but not doing it, right? Telling others how to live, but not living it yourself. That was the
hypocrite. And so he says, woe to you scribes, Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you travel, land and
see to win one proselyte you you go far and wide to convince somebody to be like you and notice what
it says and when he is won when you've won him you make him twice as much the son of hell
as yourselves it's pretty scathing
So he doesn't really pull any punches with these guys.
And no doubt they were not liking these woes.
When they say there, in verse 53, he says,
And he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees begin to assail him.
vehemently and to cross examine him about many things lying and wait for him and seeking to catch him
in something he might say and they might accuse him he so stirred up a hatred in their heart they just
wanted his head they just wanted to kill him and when people are faced with the truth right
they do one of two things either do that or they bow their knee and they think
oh my God, have mercy on me.
The Bible talks about this quite a bit, mentions those who won't listen.
Obviously, these guys would not listen to Jesus, but Proverbs tells us that those who refuse
correction, first they hate those who correct them.
Proverbs 9, 8, and Proverbs 1512 talks about this.
Mockers resent correction, and so they avoid the wise.
right they avoid the wise
secondly
they do not listen to the one correcting them
and actually hate them
they won't listen
now I've been
corrected by two and three year olds
and I've been corrected by
70 and 80 year olds
and it's something that I need to get used to
and I need to embrace it.
Maybe the correction isn't always correct,
but I need to receive it with humility.
And so it is with you.
Amos says in Amos 510, he says,
they hate the one who rebukes in the gate,
and they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.
And we see that in our country, right?
I just listened this morning,
I listened to the DA from Virginia.
ICE went into Virginia,
cleaned out the city of 650 criminal immigrants,
and there was not one protest.
He said, it was great, man.
They cleaned up our city like that, you know?
And it's like...
But people hate the truth.
They hate the truth.
and ultimately the truth is a person and his name is Jesus so that's who they're hating on
third thirdly they despise their own soul it tells us in proverbs
proverbs 1532 those who disregard discipline despise themselves
but the one who heeds correction gains understanding
these guys would have done well to go back
and open up their Bibles
and let the Lord minister to their heart
and convict them and cleanse them.
And
the Bible tells us
the fear of the Lord is clean.
It cleans us up. It does me.
And I ain't very clean yet.
But I'm getting there.
Poco a poco.
A little bit at a time.
A little bit here, a little bit there.
because I don't know about you, but I need washed every day.
I need the washing of the water of the word in my life every single day.
Is it really that late?
I'm going to say amen.
Let's all stand, shall we?
Lord, we, uh,
we're so impressed with our God.
Lord, you gave these people chance after chance after chance to come to you.
Lord, between all the woes, they could have bowed their knee.
Between these woes in the cross,
they could have humbled themselves and began to seek you
and to walk with you and to have a life that was changed by you.
you. Lord, I thank you that you've revealed yourself to us. Lord, I pray that we wouldn't
hide it. Lord, that we would speak of it, that we would walk in the light as you were in the
light. Father, I pray for your people today that you would all take us deeper with yourself.
Lord, I know you have things for us to do. You have people for us to minister to.
to get outside of ourselves, Lord,
instead of just stowing up treasures on this earth
and savings accounts and retirement accounts
and all those things, the stock market
that consume so many people's minds, Lord,
I pray that you would consume our mind
with that attitude of the prophet Isaiah,
Lord, here am I, send me.
So, Father, open doors for us.
I just pray even this week, Lord, that you would go with us.
Fill us with your Holy Spirit.
Lord, empower us to do your will.
Lord, that we would be able to lay down our lives as you've encouraged us to.
Lord, that great commission, go into the world.
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Lord, everything we need, we can't out give you.
And you'll supply it because you're so good.
So we love you.
We pray that you'd go before us this week.
And Lord, that you would hear us as we'd cry out to you in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Hey, God bless you.
If you guys need prayer, the prayer team will be up here.
Come on up for prayer and be on fire this week.