Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.steelvalleychurch.com/sermons/82666/november-2-2025-luke-1137-54-kiss-keep-it-simple-sinner/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11.! We will be reading the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11, starting at verse 37 and reading through 54.

[0:18] ! Luke, chapter 11, starting at verse 37. When Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him.

[0:30] So he went in and reclined at table. 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.

[0:47] You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

[1:01] But woe to you, Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue in every herb and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.

[1:15] Woe to you, Pharisees, for you love the best seats 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.

[1:29] One of the lawyers answered him, Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also. And he said, Woe to you lawyers also, for you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

[1:47] Woe to you, for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses, and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.

[2:04] Therefore also the wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute. So the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world may be charged against this generation.

[2:22] From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.

[2:33] Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hinder those who were entering.

[2:43] And he went away from there. The scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard, and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

[3:02] This is the Word of God. Thanks be to God. All right. Good morning, church. How are we doing today? Good morning, good morning.

[3:13] For those of you that don't know me, my name is Carmen Arroyo. I am one of the elders here at Steel Valley Church, and it is a joy and a privilege to be able to bring you God's Word this Sunday morning. So, and as I prepared this week, I was going through what our elders have been going through for the past few months, and we've actually met online to discuss this very text, but before that, to also review what we went through last week.

[3:39] And so, it's a great opportunity. It's open to anyone. If you guys are interested, hit up Brent in the back. It's on Mondays at 8 p.m. via Teams. It's a great time. But anyway, so, as we were looking ahead, and I was starting to share the way I started to prepare for this sermon, I started looking at the screen, and I saw so many astonished faces looking back, kind of like how you guys are right now.

[4:07] Like, where is he going with this? This is exactly what happened on that Teams meeting when I was preparing, or sharing how I was preparing. And it was at this moment that God reminded me of a very simple and sweet mercy, to keep it simple, stupid.

[4:24] And so, because the thing was, was that I realized I was literally on the verge of doing what so many people do with Scripture. Miss the point.

[4:37] And so, keeping that in mind, I want us to go ahead and focus in on what we've been going through in Luke chapter 11 to set us up for today. And where we see earlier in Luke 11, Jesus was casting out demons.

[4:50] He's answered accusations that he's worked by Satan. And he's warned that the lamp is lit, and our eyes must be clear. And all of this was done in front of a huge crowd.

[5:03] Crowds upon crowds were coming. And then after that, a Pharisee came up and was like, hey, Jesus, let's get dinner. And so that's where we sit today, is that while Jesus was seated, he had dinner with these Pharisees at dinner.

[5:21] And by him not doing a simple ritual, exposed a much deeper and bigger issue with these leaders. That they were polishing the outside while ignoring what was within.

[5:36] And these Pharisees and lawyers, we must remember, these were the religious exemplars and the legal experts of the time. And they have kept God's language, or the language of God's law, but they missed its heart.

[5:51] That their forefathers rejected the prophets, and this generation that Jesus is in front of right now is at risk of doing the same thing with John the Baptist, with Christ himself, and with the apostles that he's going to be sending.

[6:04] And so, what we need to do is see that if we're completely honest, church, we're very close to doing the same thing today.

[6:15] We replace these major issues, these major matters, with minor ones. We shift burdens onto other people.

[6:26] And we try to build barriers where God has torn the curtain in two. So, today, church, we'll be going through Luke 11, verses 37 through 54, and I'll be breaking it up into three points.

[6:42] So, to not miss the main point, we'll have three separate points. But, anyway, the first point, we'll be looking at verses 37 through 41, and it's involving the dinner table that reveals the real issue, the inside versus the outside.

[6:57] Point two will be verses 42 through 44. Where we'll see the woes to the Pharisees for their misordered piety, and that neglects justice and the love for God.

[7:09] And the last section, the last point, will be verses 45 through 54. The woes to the lawyers for burdening others and blocking access to the key of knowledge.

[7:21] And in today's sermon, I will be making the main point and the argument by titling it K-I-S-S. Keep it simple, sinner.

[7:34] I don't want to call you guys stupid. But, and where, what I'll argue is that we need to know, K, the inside counts, there's an I in there, show justice and mercy, S, and share the way, S.

[7:53] So, that when Jesus arrives, we'll see that fake religion dies, and he calls us to an inside out faith that loves God, that lifts burdens, and that opens the door to Christ.

[8:05] And that is the main point. So, before we begin, let us pray. Father God, we thank you. We thank you for everything that you continue to be, who you are, and who we are not.

[8:19] Father, we thank you for the opportunity to meet together as saints and believers to worship you and rejoice in your name and to help one another through this sanctification, Father, to commune, to take the elements and be together.

[8:34] Father, I pray that we are able to come together and listen to your word, that our eyes are open, that our ears can hear, and that our hearts are soft so that you can write your law on it.

[8:49] Father, I pray that your will be done in Jesus' name. We all say, Amen. So, point one, know the inside counts.

[9:01] We'll be diving into verses 37 through 41, and this one, I just want to let you guys know this will be the longer section just because I want us to make sure we understand who God is and who we are in response to it.

[9:16] So, point one might seem a little lengthy. You're going to be like, all right, Carmen, it's 30 minutes in and we're still in point one. You have two more points to go. It won't be that long, but I just want to let you guys know to prepare yourselves.

[9:28] So, buckle up. Verse 37, we read, while Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him. So, he went in and reclined at table.

[9:42] Isn't that something? Like, most pastors or even speakers at events, whenever they do a speech or performance, there are some people that might go up to them and be like, hey, would you like to come out to lunch with us after or dinner or whatever?

[9:57] Come have breakfast with us at Bob Evans or, if it's me, I really enjoy the Chinese buffet over there in Boardman. So, just letting you guys know. But, anyway, whatever it may be, it's, it's, it's, let us imagine here for a moment that these Pharisees went ahead and asked the Son of God, Jesus Christ, to come and join them for a meal.

[10:22] The one who created the universe, the earth, the animals, and the plants that they were about to eat, he made them. And they asked him over for a meal.

[10:35] Can you imagine that? Can you imagine going up to Jesus and be like, hey, Jesus, would you like some coffee? What about an appetizer? Like, I mean, it's just kind of surreal to me, but I want us to go ahead and get into this moment that he, Jesus, a person of the triune God who has already fulfilled so many of these prophecies that the blind are seeing, that the deaf are hearing, that he's exercised people, that he's raised people from the dead, that these Pharisees went ahead and said, come on, come have dinner with me.

[11:05] It's a great opportunity. It's a great way to see this picture, this explicit picture of how he's able to be at their table sinners.

[11:22] And this picture of the great lengths that our God will go to to descend himself to come down, to take on this flesh, to be surrounded by sinners, to know their hearts, to know their thoughts, and to still have the heart and the love and the compassion to be with them, to break bread with them, so that he is able to speak with them, and so they have an opportunity to become more like him.

[11:54] praise God for his gospel. But isn't this a stark difference from what we see in so many other different religions all over the world today?

[12:06] Or even mantras, or things that we have to do in order to be better, to get to somewhere better, that we need to prove ourselves, that we need to make ourselves better to be able to go to heaven, to be more successful.

[12:23] It's amazing to see that we even see this in our very own Bible, in the Old Testament, Genesis, with Babel itself, where the people of Babel literally tried to work their way and build a tower into heaven.

[12:41] And it's written in Genesis that God went ahead and he saw and he looked down and he saw what the people of Babel were doing. And said, not today, sinners. Snapped his fingers and all their languages were confused.

[12:56] So now, I get the opportunity to learn Hebrew and Greek. So, it's great. Mazel tov. But church, I want you guys to see that isn't it foolishness to think that we could do work that we can make it so that God appreciates us more by what we do and what we say and what we wear.

[13:26] Isn't it amazing to think that, like, I need to do this. I need to be a good Christian so God knows that I am a good Christian. which pretty much is saying, I need to help God see.

[13:42] See. Hmm. does it matter what our perfect attendance is on Sundays? Do you say I have to have perfect attendance?

[13:56] Do you say I need to donate, to tithe, or volunteer to all this to prove to God that I am a good Christian?

[14:10] and we forget that God has condescended to us and came to save us and how easy is it for us to put ourselves in that position? But, nevertheless, there he is, the Lord of hosts reclining at table.

[14:34] and we read on to verse 38. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner.

[14:48] The Pharisees were astonished. How dare Jesus not wash his hands? Now, this is important for us to have context here just a little bit because it's not that these Pharisees were like us parents who get mad at their kids for coming in after playing outside and they didn't wash up before dinner.

[15:08] No. This ritual hand washing was an oral tradition that's been passed down from generations by the Jewish people and it's a tradition that is now captured in the Talmud and it is not a part of the Torah.

[15:24] It is not a part of the law of Moses that God gave him. And see, the thing is is that what we need to do and understand is see that this tradition, this washing of the hands, it seems pretty minor to us, but it's been considered as much as a transgression, a significant transgression, as saying that you have been with a prostitute or that rabbis have also wrote in the Talmud that if you do not do this position, then you should be uprooted from the earth.

[16:04] She'll be killed for not washing her hands. That's the importance and the significance of this ritual. So, you see the arrogance of this ritual and of this man, the fact that Jesus didn't meet his expectations has caused so much anger within him that Jesus had the audacity to come into his house and not meet his level of holiness.

[16:35] Jesus, why aren't you washing your hands? Why aren't you being more like me? My, how the turns have tabled.

[16:47] Huh. We were meant to be created and conformed to his image, and the Pharisee is so angry with the fact that he didn't reach his level of holiness, that he chastises him, saying that he's astonished.

[17:06] Why can't God be more like me? Well, church, Jesus has a very different view as we read on to verse 39.

[17:19] And the Lord said to him, now you Pharisees, cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you're a fool. of greed and wickedness.

[17:33] Now, the Bible doesn't actually say whether or not the Pharisee said something or his face said something, he made a hand gesture, or it's the same face as I saw again on Monday during our team's meeting while I was presenting to the elders.

[17:48] We have no idea what happened, but whatever the case may be, Jesus is calling it out. That through their obsessions over these traditions, they've put on this facade to appear holy, but their insides, their hearts are full of greed and wickedness and sour, which reminds me of a story, actually.

[18:21] I, most of you know, I used to live in Florida before moving up here, and we all know that Florida is hot, right? Yeah.

[18:32] So, one afternoon, I was waiting for my ex-girlfriend to come pick me up after I got my car serviced, and don't worry, that ex-girlfriend became my wife, so, ha!

[18:48] And so, as I was waiting for her to come pick me up, I was getting hot, I was getting sweaty, I was disgusting, but most of all, I was thirsty.

[19:00] I was very, very thirsty that as soon as I got into her car, I saw this beautiful red cup with the beads of condensation just going down, with the plastic straw poking through the cap, and without even thinking, I grabbed that cup, and I took the biggest, longest drink of my entire life.

[19:23] I was that thirsty. She's laughing. It was spoiled milk from a milkshake, or something that was sitting in the hot sun all day.

[19:37] I can't even tell you how vile and disgusting this was. It's already made it down. It's already made it down to my stomach because I'm a gulper, and I was very thirsty, but it was absolutely disgusting and vile, and now I smell cups before I drink them if I don't know they're mine, so watch your cups around me.

[20:02] That's why I'm always sick. But, church, I hope this illustration isn't lost on you. What we see here is just like the cup that I drank from.

[20:13] It looked so great from the outside. It looked so inviting. I wanted to drink it, but on the inside was the most putrid vileness I've ever had in my entire life. And this is what we see with the Pharisees.

[20:25] They look great on the outside, but the inside is wicked, wretched, greedy, sour. We can fall for this very trap too, church, if we're not careful.

[20:42] So I have to ask you, what's on the inside of you? I know it's Sunday. I know we wear suits with burgundy ties and do our hair, but what's really on the inside of you?

[20:58] A better question yet is do you think that you can actually hide what's on the inside of you from the one that made the inside and outside of your very being?

[21:15] Here we go on to verse 40. Let's read. Come with me. Jesus says, you fools, did not he who made the outside make the inside also?

[21:29] There's our answer. You fools. Pretty harsh rebuke coming from Jesus right there. But the thing I want us to remember is that we get this word fool and what we subscribe to today in society it seems a lot more like a jester or something more funny but the thing is is that at that time a fool as we will read let's go ahead and read it is something much more dire and so pulling from the first edition of Webster's dictionary great dictionary by the way look it up you'll love it it defines fool as one who is destitute of reason or common powers of understanding an idiot my favorites a person who does not exercise his reason and pursues a course contrary to the dictates of wisdom in church we know from Proverbs and from the Psalms that true wisdom is the fear of come on is the fear of the Lord true wisdom is the fear of the Lord so how foolish are they how foolish are we to not use our

[22:45] God-given reason to see that the creator of all things will see past their facade and ours too how foolish is it to pursue this course of hiding it from him and convincing ourselves that we can gain salvation by our outer appearance by our deeds by our lips service without real fruit or evidence to back it up so and then begs the question what does God want right if he doesn't want that he has to want something well let's read on verse 41 Jesus continues but give his alms those things that are within and behold everything is clean for you those things that are within

[23:46] Jesus has and always will only want one thing from the very beginning as described in Genesis we were created bare with nothing to boast about our outwardly appearance we were exposed we were naked but he still gave when we sinned in the fall of Adam and Eve it was the Lord God who made garments from skins to clothe them he gave after being freed from Egypt we still continue to sin against our God but in Exodus chapter 31 we read he gave unto Moses when he had made an ending of communing with him upon Mount Sinai two tables of testimony tables of stone written with the finger of God he gave then over the countless generations thereafter we refused to keep these laws of Moses and he sent us prophet after prophet after prophet to reorder our priorities he gave and it was these prophets that proclaim thus saith the Lord as we just read in

[25:08] Ezekiel 36 26-27 I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules we see this promised church turning from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh he gave then in Jeremiah 31 verses 33 I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts and then in Jeremiah 32 verse 39 I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for their own good and the good of their children after them we see this promise again that he will take the law that he has given to Moses written on these external stone tablets and instead write them internally on our hearts of flesh with true wisdom which is what true wisdom fear of the Lord so we see this from external tablets coming in to our internal hearts church we need to know who God is in order for us to get this and we need to know who we are that even after all these promises that we continue to sin they continue to sin we continue to add laws to what he's commanded of us they did the same thing adding laws to the law of

[27:17] Moses but he still offers forgiveness and that he continued so much that he sent his own son and with that very finger of God that gave the law of Moses has come to write it again on our hearts to give us everlasting life that if we truly believe in him with our hearts that the Lord God is we if we truly believe in our hearts the Lord our God is the Lord our God with all of our hearts with all of our minds and with all of our soul all of which is within us then this heart renewal produces mercy and what we do to love our neighbor through these acts of alms or charity is pure and undefiled before the Lord because that is what purifies or glorifies him we must know that the inside counts that is the point and it's a point in which both the Pharisees and the lawyers missed which leads me to the next one point two where we'll be looking at verses 42 through 44 to show justice and love come with me church verse 42 it reads but woe to you

[28:50] Pharisees for you tithe mint and rue and every herb and neglect justice and the love of God these you ought to have done without neglecting the others Jesus starts with their scales and spice racks they're weighing all these things they're being so meticulous to ensure that they are tithing the right amount 10% according to the law of Moses they are doing what they need to do they are wearing what they need to wear they are saying what they need to say they're being meticulous on all these things that are not within the law and they are completely missing the point of why they are even doing it now don't get me wrong church I'm not saying that doing these things like giving or tithing isn't what we're called to do we should be doing this however we should not be replacing it with the more major things and trading it for the justice and the love of

[29:52] God in other words let me give you another example sorry my wife we're going to be using you again imagine I'm driving home from work and I want to surprise my wife with her favorite chocolates carmelos candies I want to get her flowers I'm going to get her favorite bottle of wine I go and make us a reservation at her favorite restaurant we order her favorite meal any kind of pasta and then as we're sitting there eating that meal I am being the best husband ever I'm rocking it I'm listening to her intently I am not making any type of like hey I think you should do this I'm just being there I am listening really listening not trying to solve her problems and then we go and we drive off to Craig beach and on those sandy shores we watch the sunset and as as we're embracing each other she looks up to me and says

[30:56] Carmen this was great but I have to ask why did you do it and to which I respond well I have to don't I that's what makes a good husband right well some of the men right here are like yeah it's it's what we're supposed to do but that's not the point like the fact that if we do something for someone that we love and we actually don't do it out of love then what's the point if we have to do something that's kind of like I don't know a hostile situation and not saying that y'all marriages are like hostile situations but it shouldn't be you should be able to love one another so anyway you see church if what we do like I said isn't based in love for those that we say we love then what's the point it's the same thing here so we have to notice that

[32:05] Christ didn't say stop tithing he says these things you ought to have done but you cannot trade them for the justice and love of God so we can't use small obediences to dodge the bigger ones remember what is said in Micah chapter 6 verse 8 do justice love mercy walk humbly with your God I want to also heed the warnings found in Isaiah chapter 29 verse 13 and then repeated by Christ himself in Mark 7 verses 6 and 7 where my youth group guys going back to Mark chapter 7 verses 6 through 7 regarding how hypocrites honor God with their lips but their hearts are far away from them and worship in vain with these made up traditions of man this is a warning church so we need to keep it simple and when we see our lip service multiplying without our heart then we will notice that love service begins to evaporate we have to notice that we have to ask ourselves where do

[33:27] I keep immaculate records of church attendance or service hours or giving receipts but you leave the hungry the hurting and the overlooked untouched where does your religion love what is countable while avoiding what is costly let's read on verse 43 Christ again says woe to you Pharisees for you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the market places now Jesus moves from what they count to what they crave right you love the best seats and the loud greetings this isn't an issue about furniture or about nice hellos this is identity connected to visibility it's this public honor that we get becomes this spiritual oxygen how many how many of us would still do the things that we would do today for our fellow man and to worship

[34:38] God if Facebook and Instagram and TikTok wasn't around to try to get those likes that dopamine rush let's keep it simple how often do we also say that I need to be okay because I'm seen is okay how many of you have taken up the mantle of Christian and you need to feel like you have all of your life together you have to be able to present yourself in an orderly way that best represents God but inside you're broken that you tie your Christianity and your walk with faith based off of how you look and what you say and what you do and where you are versus who you are in relation to him we need to be aware of this subtle drift because it's where our ministry becomes a mirror reflecting us to be noticed and not a window pointing to God do you serve because you love God and neighbor or because you like the feeling it gives you of being needed being seen being praised again

[36:14] I have to ask what if all those platforms disappeared if this pulpit this platform this church all of social media your podcasts the video shows that you watch all of it disappears would you still have that very same zeal for your fellow man and for God we continue as Christ continues in verse 44 woe to you for you are like unmarked graves and people walk over them without knowing it again I want us to notice that in today's culture that might be like okay he stepped on some grass what's the big deal there so that's why context is key in numbers 19 it taught that Israel that if they had contact with a grave it brought ceremonial uncleanliness and an unmarked grave was even worse because you could be defiled without even knowing it that is what

[37:23] Christ is comparing them to Jesus is saying that your influence is like this you like the look like! holiness but you transmit contamination this is the deadly fruit of performative religion it makes fear and pride not faith and love and it makes disciples of anxiety and not of Christ meaning!

[37:54] you have to do this you have to be this way you have to come to church you have to do all these things you have to tithe you have to do you have to do you have to do you have to do that causes anxiety where Christ gives us peace so we need to ask ourselves what do people catch from us is it mercy or is it caring about our appearances and a hunger for greater status do our ministries give people courage to come to Christ or a checklist to keep up appearances again church let's keep this simple we're called to show justice and love to keep the small obediences but never substitute them for the heart of God's law that we should refuse tradition and the precepts of men by taking lip service out and putting love service in now church don't get me wrong tradition is fine however the issue becomes once you start elevating it to the same level or above the word of

[39:16] God that's the issue so when we start seeing this and we start seeing that the heart is taken out of what we do and what we say and how we worship that it makes it so much easier for his word and any addition that is derived from his word to be utilized as a weapon as a gate keeper and this is where Jesus now turns to the lawyers who expose how misordered piety becomes this type of gate keeping and what happens when they hold back this key of knowledge which brings me to point three to share the way we'll be looking in verses 45 through 54 let's read with me verse 45 one of the lawyers answered him teacher in saying these things you insult us also it's funny to me but we need to remember that these lawyers are the experts in the laws of

[40:39] Moses and all the things that they added to them that these traditions these precepts of man these extra laws that they kept on piling over and over and over because they saw the law of God and in their wisdom they decided to add to it they needed to add to it to make sure that the ordinary citizens the ordinary Jewish folk needed to know what to do and what not to do to be a good Jewish man and woman and so Jesus is holding up this reflection calling the Pharisees to the table and this lawyer sees himself in this mirror and doesn't like what he sees and so this is further expounded upon in John chapter 3 verses 20 through 21 where it reads for everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed but whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried!

[41:50] out in God we see this we see the lawyer's response that instead of repentance and coming to the light they go on the offensive and Jesus doesn't backpedal he applies the truth even more directly thank you so which brings me to verse 46 let's read and he said woe to you lawyers also for you load people with burdens hard to bear and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers so this whole section this beginning section like I said was amusing to me and it's this section where it kind of reminds me of the small dragon Mushu from

[42:51] Mulan does anyone remember the small little red dragon where he started saying dishonor dishonor on you dishonor on your family dishonor on your cow and that's how I kind of like see this when I read this for the first time I saw Jesus like doing whoa whoa Pharisees and the lawyers were like hey and he's like and whoa to you too and so it was I don't know it was just something that I thought in my head which I thought I would share with you welcome to the madness but the thing is it doesn't matter who you are you could be a pastor you could be a Pharisee you could be a lawyer you could be a professor you could have graduated from high school you could have graduated from YSU you could have graduated from an Ivy League school it doesn't matter who you are Christ will always defend his truth and he will rebuke every single thing that goes against it but he will also forgive let's not forget that and what we see with these lawyers is that they have been layering expectations upon expectations these add-ons these rules these do's and don'ts and the whole thing is is that they don't even lift a finger to try to help anyone it's wild how often are we so willing to share a post on

[44:25] Facebook or Instagram regarding what we believe and what a Christian should do but won't actually go out of our way to make a connection with someone to share one another's burdens and fulfill the law of Christ!

[44:41] Better yet, how hypocritical would it be for someone to even go and host podcasts and radio shows and television programs and do all these things but not be in these very pews not go to church not worship not reach out to their fellow man where they give this lip service but there's no evidence to back it up makes one question if this is you I want us to know that this is not the point do not miss the point church we cannot be so busy guarding doctrine that we fail to live it out by guiding others to Christ we have to view doctrine is a door not a dumbbell to hold people down it is a door to lead people to

[45:44] Christ the eternal life so we need to ask ourselves do our words create paths or piling down on people piles to pile down on people if we start requiring!

[46:02] something from someone are we there to also resource it if we are to exhort them are we also going to encourage and walk alongside them how could we point a finger and not see a brother in need and help him the lawyer's hypocrisy is further rebuked in the following verses we'll be reading 47 through 48 where Jesus says woe to you for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed so you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers for they killed them and you built their tombs that these very lawyers honor these prophets with this stonework with these beautiful monuments but consent to the very violence of their fathers by repeating the same thing right now they memorialized these message bearers but they're muting the message and all this is resulting in these beautiful grandiose respectful monuments but inside is resentment and resistant hearts and church when we come here on

[47:33] Sundays and we say amen and we worship and we pray and we take communion what is it like on Monday he commands us to worship him every day and do we celebrate the heroes of repentance the people who see the light who turn and repent do we see that and like yes amen they should do that they were sinning they did have a drug problem they did have an alcohol problem they were divorced they were a different religion they didn't believe what we believed they should be the ones that are repenting they should be the ones that are returning to Christ but you turn around and you don't even look at yourself why worry about a speck when there's a huge log blocking both of your eyes so we continue on the verses 49 through 51 therefore also the wisdom of

[48:55] God said I will send them prophets and apostles some of whom they will kill and persecute so that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world may be shared charged against this generation from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the sanctuary yes I tell you it will be required of this generation we're looking all the way back to Genesis from A to Z from Abel to Zechariah from Genesis to Chronicles the last book of the Hebrew Bible Jesus spans the whole Old Testament witness the prophets that he in his wisdom have sent time after time again and looking ahead he pivots and says what he will be sending saying look at what you've done to my truth bearers his heralders of his word this storyline is sobering that

[50:11] God continues to send these truth tellers and these hardened hearts continue to try to silence them but now that the true prophet has come and the pattern is reaching this crescendo with this generation that's in front of Jesus himself that is seeing the word made flesh the light of men shining in the darkness and they do not comprehend it let this be a warning to you church God keeps sending his word when scripture is opened when sermons are preached and when brothers and sisters talk to you in love are you going to repent and accept it are you going to resist with rationalization I don't need to repent I'm not that bad I think I'll be okay this isn't that bad it's not murdering or killing anyone let's look on to verse 52

[51:24] Jesus continues woe to you lawyers for you have taken away the key of knowledge you did not enter yourselves and you hindered those who are entering again these were the lawyers of the law these were the professionals they had the law they were the ones that started studying this word since they were little kids they went to temple they studied Torah they went to university they did all the studying they did all the rituals they were enclosed by it but they should have been the ones that were leaping to joy to see that the blind see and the deaf hear and Jesus Christ has come but they weren't instead they kept the law to themselves and did not teach it faithfully to others and instead of faithfully seeking to understand the scriptures themselves they manipulated it to their own advantage advantage we have to look at that and see all these additional traditions like hand washing that started this whole thing that they were twisting

[52:43] God's words to suit their own desires and by doing so they created these walls and heavy weights blocking and weighing other people down all the while making them look better that they took away this key of knowledge and have hidden it from the very people that they were supposed to be leading to God to their Messiah to Jesus Christ how dare they how dare we God to to God to God to God and God has provided a key and that is true understanding of scripture that leads to Christ God so

[53:44] I want us to challenge all of us the leaders the pastors the deacons the elders the volunteers the mothers the fathers the husbands the wives are we clearly showing people Jesus the way to Jesus or are we complicating it are we sharing the key that is found in his word and his law in his son's life or are we hoarding it we must give people Christ church it's plain and clear that's it and so we move to the final verses 53 through 54 which read as he went away from there the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things lying in wait for him to catch him in something he might say truth has two effects it either humbles you or it hardens you these

[55:03] Pharisees and lawyers chose strategy over surrender to to plot over penitence and church we know already how this story ends they didn't know at that time but we know how this story ends and we see here that the Pharisees and the lawyers will wait to catch him in something that he might say because we must remember from just last week when we looked at Luke chapter 11 verse 20 the second part of that verse the kingdom of God has come upon you that even with the wicked will of man being on full display and our holy and righteous gods will prevail and what they meant for evil against him but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today so church let's keep it simple we need to share the way we need to put the key back where God put it in the gospel we need to make scripture clear we need to remove needless barriers we need to lift burdens with your hands and invite people through the open door which is

[56:22] Jesus Christ church I pray that we take these warnings that we've seen today and instead of responding like the Pharisees and the lawyers we approach this very scenario the same way Isaiah did when he came into the presence with our almighty God in chapter six that when he saw the Lord God sitting high upon the throne with his robe filling the temple he saw the angels singing overhead holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts that we echo these same words when we are in his presence that we fall down our knees and we say woe is me for I am lost for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts and just like God sent that angel with that burning coal from the altar to fly down to

[57:29] Isaiah and kiss his lips so too our God has sent our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to come down and cleanse our hearts by sacrificing himself taking away our guilt and atoning for our sins praise God so church we need to repent and follow him not polish but pivot from the outside show to the Savior who cleanses the inside from the precepts of man of the world to the word made flesh turn trust take his hand it is worth it so many times we are told to repent repent repent repent and what that means is literally just a turning away from sin and we keep on focusing on repenting from sin we lose focus and we miss the point of where we're going what are we repenting from and who are we going to he says repent and follow me follow me to eternal life follow me to the glories of glories where you'll be glorified and you'll be able to glorify him forever where there is no pain there is no injustice and there is perfect love there is no satisfaction that we are able to repent from that we should ever want to turn our backs away from the all encompassing satisfaction from every single thing that we could ever want in accordance with his will because at that cross

[59:18] Jesus took our greed and our wickedness and our hypocrisy not just the wrong things we've done but the wrong heart that loved the spotlight and the applause of men instead of being a faithful servant the one and only God he was treated as unclean he was treated as outside the camp so that we could be made clean from the inside out he rose to pour out the spirit writing God's law in our heart he turned stone to flesh compulsion turned to delight and what makes when he makes you new everything shifts from I have to to I get to because he came down because he loved first because he gave his life and he rose again we go from I have to go to church to I get to gather with his people and meet with the living God we go from I have to pray to

[60:19] I get to commune with my father in Jesus's name we go from I have to give to I get to join in his generosity because he's already holding me if we go from I have to read the Bible to I get to hear his voice and walk in his ways we go from I have to serve to I get to pour out what he's poured in we go from I have to obey to I get to follow the shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep church I want us to remember to keep this simple sinner know the inside counts to bring your heart and ask Jesus to cleanse what polish can't to show justice and love by keeping the small obediences and doing the costly mercies and to share the way to put the key where

[61:28] God put it in the gospel of Jesus Christ and if you are here today and you believe that your heart is far away but your lips seem near that you see this conflicting thing that's going on inside of you you don't know what it is you don't know what this Jesus guy is all about maybe you heard about church when you were little maybe you saw it on the news and it was portrayed maybe you don't really understand everything that's coming out of my mouth or what's in this word what was read but church if there is someone here today that if you feel what is going on this change inside of you and if you notice that your heart isn't right that what you have on the inside isn't what you display on the outside that if something that you are going through right now isn't exemplified in how you speak or how you talk that I want you to know that we are here to pray to meet in the back to let us pray with you to get to know you and for the unbeliever you may be thinking about all this and you're like I don't just I just don't get

[62:40]  I just don't understand why we are talking about a God that has kept promises and we have to remember that he continues to give he continues to forgive how many of us can say that about any other man any other human any other organization any other social construct we try to get all these answers from so many different things but this world is full of lies and there is only one door there is only one way I pray that he does the work in you let us pray