Latest / HBCWestminster / 1.24.21 Luke 11:37-44 Pastor Danny Gardner

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1.24.21 Luke 11:37-44 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  If you have your Bibles, you can open to Luke chapter 11. Luke 11, and our text this morning is verses 37 to 44. Luke 11, 37 to 44. If you're able to stand in honor of God's word, I would ask you to stand now. Allow me to read our text, then we'll pray and begin. In verse 37, while Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table.
• 0:25
  The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees, cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools, did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give us alms, those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. But woe to you, Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue and every herb and neglect justice and the love of God.
• 0:54
  These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. Woe to you, Pharisees, for you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, for you are like unmarked graves and people walk over them without knowing it. Would you pray with me? Lord God in heaven, your word reveals who you are and we ask that you forgive us for the times that we have looked for you apart from your word.
• 1:25
  Forgive us for the times when we have in our ignorance and even denial sought to redefine who you are. And if there is anything in us that is not right, Lord, correct it. If anything in our thinking is wrong, we ask that you set it right and that you keep it right according to your word and by your great mercy. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. You can be seated.
• 1:52
  Well, with lost American souls like those you may encounter on the street or in the line at Costco or maybe even over your next door fence, when they talk about Jesus, who do they believe him to be? A 2015 Barna survey.
• 2:11
  found some interesting commonalities and even drew some startling conclusions in regard to American responses to that question, who do you believe Jesus to be? It turns out that according to this relatively recent survey, 92% of Americans believe that Jesus was an actual historical figure, but only half of Americans believe him to be God.
• 2:30
  Another interesting note was that although half believe him to be God, more than half believe that he was sinful like you and I. In other words, he's the type of God like the mythology types of gods, right? He was one of the gods. And although they believe maybe he was powerful, they also believe that he was selfish and greedy and sinful and lustful and tempted, just like we are. This survey found that two-thirds of Americans
• 2:59
  More than 60% say that they have committed their lives to Christ at some point for the forgiveness of their sins. And they say that that commitment, two-thirds of Americans say that that commitment affects the way that they live their lives. But although that two-thirds profess Christ, they're not actually sure, many of them, that they will end up in heaven based on their profession because they're still muddy about what the good news of the gospel actually is. Is it simply faith in Christ?
• 3:29
  or do I have to combine that faith with works? And they found that many of those two thirds who have made a commitment to Christ still believe that they must combine that commitment with good works.
• 3:41
  David Kinnaman, who is the president of the Barna Group, and in fact he directed that national survey, says, and I quote, there isn't much argument about whether Jesus Christ actually was a historical person, but nearly everything else about his life generates enormous and sometimes rancorous debate. He says, Jesus is a friend of sinners, amen and amen. But then he says, but many are today unfriending him.
• 4:10
  Unfriending Jesus. Okay, well, what does that mean? It means that just because people mouth some spiritual words doesn't mean that they've committed their lives to Christ. Just because they try to be good people and try to do some good things doesn't mean they're actually regenerate. And you say, well, duh, I knew that coming in here. Did we really just take 10 minutes to make a big long loop only to end up where we started? There's 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back.
• 4:39
  But church, by far the most pervasive belief about Jesus in America is that he existed, that he was a good example of love, kindness, and morality, that his life should be emulated as far as those things go. But is that who Jesus is? Is Jesus simply, merely a grandpa figure who never said a negative word, who was agreeable and amiable? Was Jesus
• 5:10
  a pushover the way that many americans believe him to be our political leaders we've all noticed all say that they're christians they really do according to and i'll just call him last week's president okay according to last week's president he is a non-denominational christian okay the lord knows according to this week's president
• 5:37
  He is a devout Catholic, and he uses that word devout. What's interesting about that word devout is that it means devoted. He says he devotes his life to it, to Catholicism. In his inaugural address this week, he actually, this week's president, quoted Psalm 30 in verse 5, where he said, Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
• 6:01
  Weeping may last for the night but joy comes in the morning and he was not Referring to the joy that comes from knowledge of the Lord That's not the joy that he was referring to the but rather the joy that will come under his new regime our current speaker of
• 6:17
  the house makes that same claim about herself devout catholic she says that in fact she claims that she often quotes scripture in the congress although she's never actually done so because her favorite verse and the one that she quotes often isn't actually in the bible her favorite verse is this
• 6:37
  To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us. She has been quoted at least a dozen times saying that in the Congress and saying that it comes from God's word. Now she continues, and I quote, I can't actually find it in the Bible, but I quote it all the time. She says, I keep reading and reading the Bible. Doubtful. But she says, I know it's there someplace. Now I apologize.
• 7:07
  Mrs. Speaker, but it's not in there. It's not in there. You're not quoting the Bible. You made that up. I'll tell you which verse is in there. Matthew chapter 10 and verse 34. And these are the words of Jesus. This is actually in there. You want to know what's in there? Matthew 10, 34. Do not think that I have come to bring peace, but a sword. I've come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
• 7:36
  Man, at this point in our Congress, in the 2021 Congress, they refuse even to use those words, father and mother and brother and man and woman. You're not even allowed to use those words in our Congress, let alone quote the Bible, Jesus using those words. Christ continues, same text, whoever loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
• 8:01
  Whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Doesn't Jesus seem kind of like a negative Nelly there? I mean, you're kind of negative, dude. I mean, was Jesus just a pessimist? Maybe even a sadist?
• 8:28
  Right? That he gets some weird pleasure from the suffering of others? No, church, he was none of those things. Jesus simply knew that the preaching of truth, telling the truth, would by necessity divide those who would believe and those who would not. As I was visiting with Patsy Villalpando, who, like I said, has this week gone to be with the Lord.
• 8:55
  She said this to me just a couple of weeks ago. I was in her bedroom with her She was laying there on her bed Hallie and I were there along with another elder and his wife and her husband John we were all there around her bed as she was Laying there and just preaching to us She said pastor Danny and I quote I wrote this down
• 9:15
  pastor danny it's time to let the word out that's what she said it's time to let the word out who cares if they hate you and reject you can you imagine her sitting up she was i mean she's talking directly at me she's only two feet from my face who cares if they hate you who cares if they reject you they won't like your message because god is not just a love god
• 9:37
  That's what she said. God does not just love God. And she continued, it makes no sense to me that someone could call themselves saved, but then not bear fruit. Real Christians, she said, don't just go through the motions. They can't just go through the motions because of who they know. Real Christians, she says, will bear fruit. Their actions will follow their words because of who they know. If people just claim the name.
• 10:07
  But then don't actually do what Christ says. She says they're not real. Those are phony Christians. There's a famous statement that is attributed to dozens of people from Voltaire to Henry Rousseau that says that God made man in his image and man being a gentleman.
• 10:27
  modern congressional vernacular, being a gentle person. Man being a gentleman returned the favor. So God made man in his image. Man then returned the favor by remaking God in his image. Well, church, does scripture give us the latitude, the authority? Does scripture allow us to do that? Can we recreate Jesus in our own image as so many in America seem to do?
• 10:51
  Can we just ignore the parts of Jesus that we don't like? Can we just quote some passages of Scripture without believing all of Scripture? Can we embrace the love of Jesus without the sword Jesus? It was Jesus himself who in Luke chapter 6 and verse 44 said, Why do you call me Lord and don't do what I say? This morning's text I think is one of those that those with a low view or a diminished view of Jesus would probably love to omit.
• 11:23
  We've spoken on previous Sundays about the danger in trusting a false gospel for salvation. We've talked about the tendency that so many have to try to earn the favor of God by outward performance.
• 11:35
  thinking that if they can just be righteous enough or act moral enough or be honest enough, surely they'll make it to heaven. Most people live under the delusion that all is well with their souls when in fact all is not well with their souls. And we see that the Lord reserved the most scathing rebukes for those who in their own declaration, by their own declaration, were the most religious. Those were the people that he castigated the hardest. Those who claimed to be right with God but didn't actually know.
• 12:04
  the lord and so we come to the text knowing that it is possible to profess and yet not believe knowing it is possible to confess and not actually commit which i then assume means that we come to the text with at least a mild degree of trepidation right wondering what about me is my faith genuine and how do i tell we will study the attributes of
• 12:32
  false faith drawn from the text and then make applications to our own lives in order to ensure that our faith is genuine. Notice first that false faith loves ritual. False faith loves ritual. Look at verse 37. While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with them. Now allow me to point out before we even get into this very deep, allow me to point
• 13:01
  this out first, that this Pharisee who asked Christ to dine with him was likely not one of his disciples. We are beginning to feel the urgency of Christ's ministry drawing to a close. We're a matter of weeks from the crucifixion, right? Jesus is, if you want to word it this way, Jesus is running out of time. He's running out of time. And yet here he is open to eat with, to converse with, to take time out of his schedule
• 13:32
  to a man who only moments before had openly rejected him and is now about to rebuke him christ practiced we see the opposite of cancel culture
• 13:45
  Right? Those who disagreed with him. He didn't just say, no more to do with you. I'm going to pretend like you don't exist, but rather he continued to engage them as much as they were willing. He was willing to take time out and to eat with and to speak with those who opposed him. But we also noticed church that he was not willing, although he was willing to eat with sinners, he was not willing to change his message. So this Pharisee asks him to dine with him. And it says, Jesus went in and reclined.
• 14:14
  at the table verse 38 the pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner now i confess
• 14:24
  I confess, I am, long before the pandemic, I am a little bit of a germaphobe, okay? I've told you that before. I've confessed that to the church. I am a little bit of a germaphobe, all right? If I may quote a verse from the book of 2nd Pelosi, if you'll allow me to call it that, cleanliness is next to godliness, okay? I'm a little bit of a germaphobe, and I will confess that I also am astonished at how many people don't wash their hands. It is so gross.
• 14:53
  to me it's so gross I'm grossed out when I see grown men leaving public restrooms without washing their hands what century is this honestly if you're one of those men please stop or please start okay please start please for the sake of those who have to touch the door handle behind you lava sus manos you see the sign all the time wash your hands
• 15:20
  But that's not the type of hand washing the Pharisee was referring to. Jesus practiced good hygiene. It was not a hygienic washing of the hands. Rather, this Pharisee was referring to a ceremonial hand washing, which was just another effort to earn God's favor through outward righteousness. And Christ appropriately rebuked the Pharisees for it. Look what he says in verse 39.
• 15:46
  The Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees, you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you're full of greed and wickedness. You fools, did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give his alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. But woe to you, Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue and every herb and neglect justice and the love of God.
• 16:12
  The words here used in these few verses are meant to be kind of a lesson in contrasts. If you were homeschooling your second grader, the lesson would be which of these are opposites? You've got the outside and you've got the inside. You've got clean, you've got wicked. Can you imagine your seven-year-old, right? Like drawing, like you see the pictures, drawing which of these are opposites? Draw the lines that connect outside, inside.
• 16:42
  clean, wicked. And then look at this one. Greed? Inside you are full of greed? And then verse 42 says, but although you're greedy, you're a miser, you're keeping everything for yourselves. Verse 42 says, but you tithe. You're greedy, but you're giving. The Greek word here for greed is the same word as robbery. You're a robber.
• 17:10
  You steal. And it's even stronger language than that. It's like stealing with the use of violence. Stealing with the use of violence. Plundering. Actually, the word could be, it could also be used for rape. Rape. You're thieves. You're taking what is not yours by violence. And then consider this hypocrisy, right?
• 17:38
  They're taking what is not theirs by violence and then they're tithing on it. They were tithing on blood money, on what they had stolen. And you can imagine if the Lord had even received their tithe, he would have become an accomplice. It's like he would have become, you're trying to make the Lord complicit in your robbery, in your thieving.
• 18:03
  What do you think? You're buying him off? I'll give you 10% of what I've stolen just to keep your mouth shut, Lord. Look what Jesus says in verse 40. You fools. You fools. What a statement. What a statement from a know-nothing, uneducated carpenter, right? That's what we presume him to be because that was the trait of his father. What a statement from a know-nothing carpenter.
• 18:33
  To the supposedly most pious and religious men of his time, how dare he say something like that? His point was startling, and it was meant to be. The Pharisees were most concerned with outward appearance, and they thought that their external piety was not only winning them friends on earth, but was actually winning them also favor with God. They were therefore, Jesus said, fools.
• 19:03
  You think you're stacking up all of this heavenly currency. You're not you are fools Another time the Lord Jesus rebuked them for praying in public with great fanfare. You may recall that from the Sermon on the Mount
• 19:16
  another time rebuked them for giving to charity in front of others so that they would be applauded and here we find the same attitude righteousness being defined as outward reformation we've talked about that before right behavior modification righteousness defined as outward reformation rather than inward transformation I was a youth pastor many years ago and
• 19:41
  One thing youth pastors have to watch out for is the tendency that junior hires have. They all do it. The tendency that junior hires have of combining their leftover liquids into a single cup and then daring someone to drink it. Classic youth group move, okay? I really do. I think all youth groups through all of time have done this at some point. They combine it into this nasty glass of whatever. Imagine the grossest combination of leftovers you can think of.
• 20:11
  Okay, like some milk, some Pepsi, and then some hot dog juice. Okay, I mean, that's it. And you stir it up, and then you dare somebody to drink it. Now imagine your favorite little sixth grader, in an effort to impress his friends, delicately raising that cup to his lips, and you call a stop to it. You halt. Stop. Don't. That is so gross. What's wrong with you? Don't do that. Imagine that little sixth grader replying with, oh, don't worry, Pastor Danny.
• 20:41
  I washed the cup before we started. The cup was clean, right? Don't worry, Pastor Danny. I made sure the cup was clean before we started. You say, man, listen, buddy. It's not the outside of the cup being clean that matters. What's in the cup is nasty. Pour that out. Don't drink that. It's the inside of the cup that's the problem. And church, mankind is fascinated, fascinated with the outside of the cup.
• 21:10
  Billions of dollars per year are spent on outward adornment, clothing, haircuts, makeup, and none of those things are inherently wrong, of course. But the world will tell you that the most important things about you are the external things. That is absolutely the message of the world. The most important things about you are what is external, what is on the outside, what can be seen.
• 21:36
  the world has even gotten into the habit of defining themselves and others by those external things like race and gender sexual orientation by their class or family status the word that has now been coined and is now being widely used is the word intersectionality you've heard that word before intersectionality that's what they mean intersectionality is very simply a combination
• 22:05
  of externals that define who you are what's on the inside does not matter we used to say what's what the it's what's on the inside that counts it doesn't matter anymore what's on the inside makes no difference the only thing that matters now the world is telling us is what is on the outside that is not how the lord sees us church he sees and is most concerned with the heart look at verse 41.
• 22:35
  but give as alms. So in other words, you want to be charitable, you want to give, give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. In other words, God is concerned with the inner man. God is concerned with the heart. 1 Samuel 16 and verse 7, an actual Bible verse. 1 Samuel 16 and verse 7, man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
• 23:08
  Man looks at the outward appearance. That is certainly what's happening in our country. Intersectionality. You want to know what that's called? That's what it's called. Man looks at the outward appearance. You should be defined by how you look, by how you act on the outside. That's what defines you, your gender, your race, your class. Those are the things that define you, right? But the Bible says the Lord looks at the heart. J.C. Ryle has astutely pointed out that our Lord,
• 23:39
  points out the absurdity of attaching such importance to the mere cleansing of the body while the cleansing of the heart is overlooked. It's absurd. You're washing the outside of the cup, but inside there's Pepsi and hot dog juice. Do you see what he's saying? Like, take care of that. Take care of what's on the inside. He says simply in verse 42, these things you ought to have done, these things.
• 24:04
  Like tithing, like cleansing the outside of the cup. These things you ought to have done without neglecting the others. Now, what he's saying, Christ is not diminishing righteous acts, but rather putting those righteous acts in perspective. Should the Christian wash the outside of the cup? Of course he should. Of course. External appearance does matter to some degree. Should the Christian tithe? Of course the Christian should tithe.
• 24:29
  but not in order to gain the favor of God or of others. That was the problem. You're not buying your righteousness. That's the problem the Pharisees had. Notice second. So first, false faith loves ritual, but notice second, false faith loves pageantry. False faith loves pageantry. And look at verse 43. Woe to you, Pharisees.
• 24:55
  Woe to you, Pharisees. You'll notice this is now the second and the third in verse 44, woes that Jesus pronounced over the Pharisees. And next week, we're going to study two more woes, woes over the lawyers, woes to the lawyers. Now, woe was not a good news word, okay? It doesn't even sound like a good word. It's not merely a sentimental or...
• 25:21
  sympathetic statement like saying, ah, you know, like, oh, that's too bad. Oh, that's too bad. Like, whoa, you know, that's not it. I mean, whoa was actually a pronouncement of judgment. That word whoa is used all over in the Old and New Testaments. Never as a positive. Never. It was never a good thing. Why did Jesus use it here? Back to back.
• 25:42
  Twice. Actually, he uses it three times in a row, three verses in a row, 42, 43, and 44. Why use it three times? Because the Pharisees not only robbed from others.
• 25:56
  all the while trying to make the Lord complicit in their robbery by tithing on it. But they, and look at verse 43, love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. In other words, everything they did, even in their worship, that's what they were going to the synagogues to do. Even in their worship, every aspect of their piety was for praise from men rather than praise for men.
• 26:26
  god let me say that again every aspect of their piety their worship their religion everything they thought was making them clean and right before the lord every aspect of their piety was for the praise from men rather than praise for god and so he says in verse 44 woe to you
• 26:52
  You're like unmarked graves. People walk over them without even knowing it. Now at the time, to have contact with a dead body, it's not great now, but 2,000 years ago in Israel, if you had contact with any kind of dead body, if you went into a cemetery, if you were going to go visit a tomb, if you were to walk over the top of a grave, you were considered ceremonially unclean and could not attend temple worship.
• 27:19
  Okay, so for there to be unmarked graves was a real problem because you in your action, that unmarked grave was not only unclean, it was actually causing others to be unclean as well. So he says you're like unmarked grave. In other words, you may be nice and pretty and flowers on the top, but underneath dead men's bones. You see what he's saying? There is, you look pretty on the outside, right? Cemeteries are always very green and always very pretty, but you're dead on the inside.
• 27:48
  And he says, people are walking over the top of you and not knowing. You're actually preaching a false gospel. You're causing others to fall into that same kind of idolatry, the same kind of false gospel worship. What do we do about it? What do we do with this sermon? I mean, false faith. We know love's ritual. False faith loves pageantry. But church, what about my faith? You know, there is another pandemic in our country besides.
• 28:18
  COVID-19, and that is the widespread unfriending, really by that I mean redefining or dumbing down of Jesus.
• 28:28
  That is a pandemic that is destroying our country. People redefining, dumbing down who Jesus is, saying that they're Christians, saying that they're devout, when in reality they are not. Even quoting Bible verses that are real or quoting Bible verses that are not real, but they claim the name without actually cleansing the inside of.
• 28:53
  the cup and what we see in our text is that jesus was more than a pushover grandpa who never said a negative word jesus told the truth he told people how things are he wasn't afraid to tell people if they were wrong a couple of ways church i think we can apply this first seek a heavenly reward seek a heavenly reward you know the bible never promises it never promises us wealth riches on this earth it doesn't
• 29:23
  But it does promise us that in Christ, the inheritance that we will get is a rich reward. Seek a heavenly reward rather than an earthly reward. Again, allow me to use the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter six. When you give to the needy, don't even let your left hand know that your right hand is doing it so that your giving may be in secret and your heavenly father who sees in secret will reward you. Again, he's saying when you pray, go into your room, shut the door.
• 29:53
  pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you when you fast don't look all gloomy like the hypocrites they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others and i tell you they have received their reward but when you fast anoint your head wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others don't even let people know that you're doing it he says but by your father who is in secret
• 30:21
  He will see and in secret he will reward you. And so that's first. Don't let others see your acts of righteousness. It's not about what others think. But instead, he says, seek a heavenly reward. And then second, don't believe your own hype.
• 30:40
  Don't believe your own hype. One of my sons, when he was really little, just a toddler, had a little shirt that said, believe the hype on it. Believe the hype. And I think the intention was, you've heard about me, I have arrived. And it's cute when a little boy is wearing it, but it kind of bothered me. And so I just started asking him, what hype? Believe the hype? What hype? And I taught him to say, well, the hype about Jesus.
• 31:07
  He was just such a little dude. He had no idea what he was talking about. What hype? The hype about Jesus, you know, and that was awesome. Believe what hype? What hype are you talking about? The hype about Jesus. Church, don't fall into the trap of pageantry. Even when you receive praise from others, be quick to redirect that praise to whom it is due. It is true, church. The Lord has given you gifts. The Lord has given you talents. You will accomplish many things over the course.
• 31:36
  of your lives but don't become tempted to believe your own hype let us not fall into the trap of defining ourselves or others by outward appearance lord that's not that's not who we are be careful about parading your works in front of others in order to gain their favor that's what the pharisees did be careful about declaring yourself to be righteous because of a few good deeds
• 32:01
  Right? That's not what makes us righteous. But instead, heed the warning of Jesus in verse 41 to give as alms those things that are within, inside, the inner man, the heart. And then it says you will be clean. It doesn't matter, church, how clean the outside of the cup is. What matters is the cleansing of the heart. And Lord, I pray, I pray that that is exactly what we would do.
• 32:27
  That we would offer first what is inside. That we would start with the cleansing of our hearts before we ever clean up our lives. God, we know that it can't go the other way around. It's got to come from the inside out. And so, Lord, I pray that that is exactly what we would do. That we wouldn't get caught up in ritual, which is meaningless. That we wouldn't get caught up in pageantry. That we would not believe our own hype. And, Lord, that we would allow Jesus to be who he is.
• 32:56
  as revealed in your word and not seek to redefine him in order to suit our own agendas. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.