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[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you'll be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to Matthew chapter 15. While you're turning, I would like to remind you that tonight we will celebrate Christmas on the north side.

[0:15] And that's just a time for you to invite your friends. I will preach a message about Christmas tonight and I think it'll be a blessing to you. And also give the gospel to your family and friends. If you'll bring them, we'll start at 5 o'clock.

[0:27] And at 6 o'clock after church, we will have all the stuff outside that we've had all the other years. I think you're going to enjoy that fire pit. There's going to be some ponies for the children to ride.

[0:38] This is your opportunity to invite somebody to church. They'll come at 5 o'clock. Please bring them at 5. That's the reason. We're not doing it so they can have a pony ride or get to listen to some Christmas carols. We're doing it so we can share the gospel.

[0:49] So if you could do that, 5 o'clock this afternoon. Be here. Bring your friends. And then at 6 o'clock, we will celebrate Christmas on the north side. And so I'd like to invite you to help us do that and bring some people and let that tonight be a success and a blessing for them.

[1:05] Then I'd like to throw one other thing at you. I don't know if you do this, but Betty and I for years have always thought at Christmas it'd be good if you gave the Lord a gift for Christmas.

[1:17] It's amazing. It's the only time of the year when you give all your gifts to each other and not to the Lord. And it's supposedly about his birth and his birthday. So Betty and I always have given gifts.

[1:29] And we're currently, we set a goal to give a certain amount of money to the construction fund and the Nehemiah project. And I would like to, you know, think about it. If you'd like to give a special gift, it'll help get us on our land.

[1:41] So many of our ministries hinge on one day having a building so we can have the children's ministries, the WANA program that we would like to have so that we can have the teenagers want to meet on Thursday night.

[1:52] There's no place to meet here. Sunday school classes, so much of that hinges on someday God giving us land. So you pray about what you might give. And some of you might be able to give a sacrificial gift that would help with that.

[2:04] So I encourage you to think about something you might give. Some of you millionaires that want to give something for the year-end gift, you know, like Cannon. I know he's got a lot he needs to get rid of for his tax deductions, right, Cannon?

[2:14] Yeah, yeah. And so if you do, you know, just feel free. Vision Baptist Church, Nehemiah Fund. All right. Thank you, Bibles. Go with me to Nehemiah chapter, Nehemiah. Don't go to Nehemiah. I got Nehemiah on the brain.

[2:26] Go to, go to, go to Matthew. Sometimes I told somebody that I said, I'm preaching about Jesus out of numbers. And they said, well, I didn't know he was in there. And I said, well, he's in there. He was in the red heifer the other night if you were here.

[2:38] But we're talking today about a clash and a collision between Jesus and religion. And I really think by the end of the day, you're going to be shocked as you see Jesus just really put religion in his place.

[2:54] Religion is about externals. It's about what you're to do. It's a list of norms or rules about external things. And the Pharisees were the masters of doing that.

[3:05] And Jesus came along and he's like, it's not about the outside, boys. It's about the inside. It's not about whether or not you wash your hands with a certain amount of ritualistic water, which you'll get to see in a little while.

[3:17] It is about you knowing God. It's about what's happened in your heart. So read with me, if you would. I want to start and we'll read verses one through three. And here is Jesus clashing with religion in verses one through three.

[3:29] Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, why do your disciples transgress the traditions of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

[3:41] And he answered and said unto them, well, why do you transgress the commandments of God by your tradition? So this is one of the most important passages of Scripture in the New Testament.

[3:54] It is a collision of two views of God and what he wants. How God is, what God expects, and what God wants. It's a collision. There can be no compromise. One has to destroy the other.

[4:06] External rules and regulations are easier to do and make it easier to give, make it easier to check up on the lives of others. This story is about the traditions of man or the commandments of God.

[4:20] It's about what you do or what he did. You should write that one down. It's about what you do or about what he did. The religious leaders had come down from Jerusalem to talk to Jesus about his teachings and his practice.

[4:33] So they've come down from Jerusalem. They're out in the country. They're out in the sticks. And they've come down from Jerusalem to talk to Jesus. And they're not here on a pastoral visit.

[4:43] They're here with their great authority. Everybody knows where they're from. They're in a rural setting. They brought the scribes with them who are the legal experts. The most religious people have shown up.

[4:54] This is the crowd. I mean, this is the crowd that you know by the way they talk, the way they walk, the way they dress. These are the Pharisees. And their question isn't about why Jesus isn't following the traditions, but it's about why his disciples aren't.

[5:08] Look at verse 2. Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat bread. The Jews are very concerned with keeping the law.

[5:21] You have to understand that they had the law. And you might want to jot this down. The law is called the Torah. T-O-R-A-H. The Torah. But they had other books that they had made up called the Mishnah and the Talmud.

[5:35] And these were the traditions of the elders. And their tradition said that while Moses was on the mountain getting the Ten Commandments, that God had dictated some oral stuff.

[5:45] He gave them the written group. And he had dictated some oral stuff for Moses to remember and tell them. That's not in the Bible. That's just what they made up. And they had this philosophy of here's the law and we need to build a fence around the law so no one ever gets close to breaking one of God's rules.

[6:03] They were more interested in the commentary on the law than what God actually said. And many times their commentary actually contradicted the law and it contradicted each other.

[6:16] There was great discussion on how to keep the law. And I'm fixing to give you an example. But let me explain something. Even today, if you go to Jerusalem, and we have a man here who comes on occasion.

[6:26] He's a missionary to the Jews. He lived in Jerusalem. We met him when we were in Moscow years ago trying to reach the Jews there. And he said, you'll find these extremely religious Jewish people in Jerusalem.

[6:38] And they walk around all the time and they're reading out of this book. And he said, but they don't even have a sixth grade understanding of the Bible. They're reading the Mishnah. They're reading the writings of the scribes about the law.

[6:50] They're not reading the law. Here's an example of some of their foolishness. Exodus chapter 16 and verse 29. The Bible says, See for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath.

[7:01] Therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Abide you every man in your place, in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So they read that part of the law and it's okay.

[7:13] Okay, here's the rule. You can't leave your house on the seventh day. So this was written about the manna on the seventh day, the Sabbath day. And they turned that into a law for the rest of their lives.

[7:27] They would not even be allowed to do something good on the seventh day. You can't come in my house, stand outside my house. You can't cross the threshold. Because if you cross the threshold, it's going to be work. And watch the verse.

[7:38] It said, don't go out of your house. So they made up this rule. It wouldn't even allow them to do good stuff on the Sabbath day. Like giving something to the poor. And so they had this rule they made up. And the way they interpreted it.

[7:50] So they agreed that if you wanted to help, you could stay in your house. And you could stick your hand out the door. And let him take the bread. Or he could stick his hand in.

[8:01] And I could give him the bread. But if I were to take this and walk across the threshold, I was working. Because I was carrying a burden out the door. Or if he came in and he got this bread, I would be participating in him breaking the rules.

[8:15] So they decided, how are we going to give something to the poor guy who needs something? Well, let me walk to the door. I'll open the door. Here, take it. Don't cross the, be careful. We've got to be careful here. Take that.

[8:25] Now you can have that bread. And so they were that careful about how they would obey the law. And so Jesus, they come to Jesus and they say, what's going on here?

[8:36] Your disciples do not wash their hands before they eat. Now right now you're all thinking, my mama told me to do that too. And so you really think that's what the story's about.

[8:47] But that's not what the story's about. I think you'll figure that out in just a minute. So in verse 3, Jesus comes back with a very cutting statement. Look at verse 3. He answered and said unto them, why do you transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

[9:01] You want to know why my boys violate what your daddy said? And I'm going to tell you, I want to know why you violate what my daddy said. You don't like what I, my guys don't do what your parents said, but you don't do what God said.

[9:15] Because God said in verse 4, honor your father and your mother. And if you strike your mom or dad, you curse your mom or dad, you are to be killed. You're to die the death.

[9:26] But you say, you say that you can dedicate your money to God in a gift. It was called Corbin. You could give your money to God in a gift. And then if your mom or dad came over to the house and they were poor, you'd say, sorry, mom.

[9:40] I know you're hungry and I know you'd like something to eat, but I don't have anything. I would invite you if I had anything, but I don't. I gave it all to God and I'm sorry, I won't be able to help you. And Jesus is like, well, excuse me.

[9:52] You won't know why my boys don't wash their hands before they eat and you won't feed your mama when she's hungry. And God told you to take care of your mama and honor your mama. So don't be coming at me.

[10:03] We need that junk. Your love is fake. Look, if you would, at verse 7, you hypocrites. Well, did Isaiah prophesy, he says, prophesy of you saying, you come with your lips and your mouth, but your heart's not even here.

[10:18] You talk a good talk, but it's not what you really think. And by the way, you guys are guilty, you religious people are guilty of making up your own teachings and teaching them like they were supposed to be obeyed.

[10:31] Look at verse 9. Verse 9. But in vain they do worship me. In vain. Wasted worship. Wasted worship. Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

[10:42] Verse 2. Point 2. Verse 2. Jesus rejected the traditions of man. Look at verse 2. Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?

[10:53] They do not wash their hands when they eat bread. And honor not. And verse 6. And honor not his father, his mother, and he shall be free.

[11:03] Thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. They said, verse 2. Your guys don't wash their hands. Verse 6. He said, and you guys have taken my law, God's law, and you made it worthless by your rules.

[11:17] You have made up these dumb rules that you made up that have just blown the Bible out of its place. Jesus doesn't defend his apostles. He goes for the juggler.

[11:28] Remember that the tradition is not actual scripture. You've got to remember this. Jesus is not annulling the book of Leviticus. He is not doing away with the Old Testament. He's doing away with all the commentaries written by the great fathers of the church.

[11:43] And he's saying, those traditions aren't scriptures. They're just commentaries. The Jews have become more knowledgeable about what the books about the Bible said than what the Bible said.

[11:55] I hope you hear that. They knew what the books about the Bible said. They didn't know what the Bible said. They read commentaries and theology books. And they heard what preachers said.

[12:06] You may be very guilty of this. You may know what Austin says and know what the book says. And that's what he was saying. He said, boy, you guys are messed up. You don't understand. When you saw them reading, they weren't reading the Bible.

[12:17] They were reading a book about the Bible. There's a lot in religion like that today. Whether it's the Catholics reading the fathers of the church. Whether it's theologians that are more concerned about the fathers and the famous men of the past.

[12:30] Or Mormons reading the book of Mormon. Or Charismatics getting a gift from God to know something. Or Baptists more worried about what others think than checking what God thinks in his word.

[12:41] All of it was wrong. Remember, they are reading the Mishnah, the Talmud, which were the oral law. These books were the practices that they had developed.

[12:53] They were like rules on how to carry out the rules. They were rules on how to carry out the rules. By the time the religious leaders were through, God's word was hidden.

[13:05] Nearly lost to the regular Jewish person. In our society, you've heard a lot about the Bible. But very little Bible itself.

[13:16] I mean, you go to church and you hear the Bible preached. The pastor gives one verse, closes the Bible, and tells you a whole bunch of stuff. That's what goes on even in our churches.

[13:29] You follow traditions made by our forefathers just as much as the Jews did many times. It's time to get back to reading the Bible, preaching the Bible, and letting the Bible be the authority.

[13:41] It's not what did some preacher or pastor say, but what does the word of God say. The traditions of the Jews even stated this.

[13:52] The words of the scribes are more lovely than the words of the law. Man, the commentaries are so much easier. I was just with a young man, and I made the comment, you guys read about the Bible, but you never read the Bible.

[14:05] Your generation doesn't read the Bible. And he said, in my generation, it's easier to read a theologian. They make more sense, they explain everything, and so we just read those. And I said, that's your problem. Read God's book.

[14:18] It had become a greater offense in Judaism to transgress the teachings of some rabbi than the very scriptures. If you violated a certain rabbi's teachings, that was horrible.

[14:32] Not so important if you violated the Bible. So in verse 2, you come to the issue of the water. Look, if you would, why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?

[14:43] For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. The issue wasn't cleanliness, but following the rules to be clean. Some rabbis had taught them that demons get on your hands while you're sleeping.

[14:58] And if you don't wash your hands the next morning when you eat, the demons will get in your mouth and go inside of you. So you have to wash your hands in the way that they told them to. In their houses, they kept a water jar that was to be used before every meal.

[15:13] They would wash their hands with a minimum of one and a half shells, eggshells of water. Approximately three ounces of water was the minimum amount.

[15:26] Their water was to first be poured on both hands and held with the fingers pointing upwards. And it had to run off the arm at the wrist. And it must drop off for it's now unclean.

[15:36] And if it rolls back over your hand, it gets your hand dirty again. And then you would, and that would make you unclean. So then they repeated the process with the hands held down with the fingers pointing down.

[15:47] And then finally, each hand was cleansed by being rubbed with the fist of another. A really strict Jew would do all this before a meal and in between every course of the meal.

[15:58] So I don't know if you've realized he's got a whole lot of water. Amen. You ever been to the restaurant where it says you have to wash your hands if you're a waiter here. You're supposed to wash your hands after you do anything here in this bathroom.

[16:11] Well, they had to wash their hands three ounces of water. Maybe you get the idea. Kind of foolish. Would you say amen? Now listen to this. There was the issue of the Corbin or calling it a gift.

[16:24] Look at verse three. So the first one, they said, Jesus, why don't your boys wash their hands with the water before they eat? One and a half eggshells is the minimum. You have to have that much water and you've got to wash.

[16:36] The story is told of a rabbi who was put in prison and he told them he would rather have the water to wash his hands than drink it. Because he would rather die of thirst than eat with unwashed hands.

[16:51] Couldn't let those demons get in him, you know. So, verse three, Jesus answered and said to them, why do you transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, underline that, God commanded.

[17:05] It's saying, honor thy father and thy mother. He that curses father and mother, let him die the gift. But you say, you guys say, whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, it's a gift.

[17:17] It's a gift. But whatsoever you might be profited. Mama, I know I could help you right now, but it's a gift to God. You could get money off of me, but I don't have any. And honor not his father and mother, he shall be free.

[17:29] Thus have you made the commandments of God of none effect by your tradition. In Mark chapter seven, verse 11, you'll find that word Corban. Maybe you want to write it in the margin. But you say, if a man shall say to his father or mother, it is Corban, that is to say a gift.

[17:44] But whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free. So, I want you to understand, here's a good, fundamental Jewish man. And so he takes all of his money and he dedicates it to God.

[17:56] Now, here's the trick. He doesn't give it to God. He gets to keep it. It's still at his house, but it all belongs to God. And so when somebody comes over and wants some help, he said, man, I'd love to help you.

[18:07] I really would. But all my money belongs to God. So I just can't be giving it to you, even if you're my mama. I can't be giving it to you because I gave it all to God. And Jesus said, God wanted them to honor their father and mother.

[18:18] But y'all say Corban. It's a gift to God. This keeps them from having to help their parents, even if they're in poverty. By the way, Paul will later say, if you won't take care of your family, you're worse than an infidel.

[18:31] Kind of referring back to this little rule here. This keeps them from having to help their parents, even if they're in poverty. He had dedicated all his money to God and so was sorry he couldn't help his parents.

[18:43] According to their tradition, even if he changed his mind after making the oath, he couldn't change his mind because you can't break an oath. So suppose his mama comes over and says, son, and he's feeling sorry.

[18:54] He says, mom, I really want to help you, but I can't. I gave that oath to God. And if I don't do what God said, he'll kill me. So I just can't help you. I'm very sorry. So Jesus said, you guys use your traditions and your scribes as a way not to honor your parents.

[19:08] The money wasn't actually given to the temple of the synagogue. It was still in the hands of the man who said Corban. And he still used it like he wanted to. Kind of funny, isn't it?

[19:18] This is a collision. There's a contest between two kinds of religion, two kinds of worship. One is outward rules and regulations. How to wash your hands, not taking care of your parents.

[19:30] This isn't an issue of the heart, but outward rules. I'm going to take you further, but I want you to get the picture. Jesus is there with his apostles.

[19:43] The people come from Jerusalem. They've been walking a long ways or riding camels or donkeys or whatever they've done. They've gotten to the town and they come to town and they want to take Jesus to task.

[19:53] Your disciples don't wash their hands with three ounces of water. Now this is wrong. And Jesus responds, you guys make rules that don't make you take care of your mama and your daddy.

[20:06] You make rules. You make foolish rules. You are destroying what my father said with what your father said. And then he said, and your religion is fake. Look if you would.

[20:17] In verse 7. You hypocrites. Boy, that is a strong word. Would you put a circle around that word? You hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying.

[20:29] Isaiah prophesied saying. This people, they come with their mouth. They honor me with their lips. But their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me.

[20:42] Teach him for doctrines. The command. Teach him for doctrines. The commandments of men. So when he came to church. It wasn't. Open your Bibles. It was open John Calvin. It was open Arminius.

[20:54] It wasn't come to church and let's open our Bibles and see what God said. Let's see what some famous independent Baptist leader said. It wasn't come and open your Bibles. It was close your Bibles. I'll talk to you. Because I'm the guy who knows.

[21:07] Let's don't get into the Bible too much. You might find out what God said. Their religion was fake. They were hypocrites. They talked good religion. But it wasn't from their heart.

[21:19] They were hung up on their own teaching. And not the word of God. One rabbi said. There are ten parts of hypocrisy in the world. And nine of them are in Jerusalem.

[21:31] And one is everywhere else in the world. Satan has no greater ally or friend than a hypocrite. And his traditions. They are both man-made and require no faith.

[21:48] No depending on God. And it appeals to their ego and their pride. Since no integrity is required, they can talk one way and live another. There's no true worship or love for God.

[22:01] The statement was even made. You make laws for men that you won't even move with your pinky. You don't even do anything to keep them. You just like to make rules.

[22:14] The truth of the matter is that the New Testament doesn't teach about outward stuff. It teaches about inward stuff. And maybe I know that we'll be going quickly. But you might write these things down. You see, it's the heart.

[22:26] It's the internal, not the external. God wants our hearts. In Romans chapter 10 and verse 9, we believe in our hearts. The Bible said that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

[22:44] For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made. It's not what you say with your mouth. It's what you say with your heart. I used to warn the young girls in Peru all the time.

[22:54] Any guy can say anything with his mouth. Let's make sure his heart is saying what his mouth is saying. Let's make sure he's not trying to take advantage of you. And so much, guess where more hypocrisy is in the world?

[23:05] It's at church. We stand up and sing, All to Jesus, all to Jesus I commit. I will follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. Not true. It's from the heart.

[23:17] It's from the heart. By the way, we love from our heart. Matthew chapter 22 and verse 37, Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.

[23:29] We sing from the heart. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16, the Bible says, Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

[23:44] Really, when you sing here, we're not so worried about what your mouth is saying and how good you sound. I'd like to know how your heart is. Do you mean it? Is it coming from your heart? By the way, we obey from the heart.

[23:56] In Romans chapter 6 and verse 17, the Bible says, But God be thanked that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart. That form of doctrine, which was delivered to you.

[24:07] Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 6, Not with I service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. We give from the heart.

[24:18] We give from the heart. In 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 7, Every man according as he purpoth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.

[24:32] It's about the heart. It's about the heart. It's about the heart. If following Jesus consisted of external rules and regulations, that'd be far too easy.

[24:42] Far easier to follow a certain diet than to love the unlovely. Far easier to wash your hands a certain way than to be a giver. It's misleading. Many live great lives in what is external, but are filled with bitter, hateful thoughts.

[24:57] You might feel good about yourself when you compare yourself to others and have no idea where you stand with God. Rules. Rules. I remember growing up, and my dad would make the comment, there are two religions in the world.

[25:15] Works and grace. What you do and what he did. My daddy said, son, you're going to have a problem all your life because people won't accept that they've got to trust God.

[25:26] They want to know what they've got to do. He said, if you'd set up some buses outside the church and tell people, if they'll jump over those buses, God will give them salvation. They'd line up to prove they could jump the buses.

[25:39] He said, but you tell them they've got to admit they're a sinner and trust God they ain't going to do it. I pretty well found that to be true. Pretty hard to say, I can't. These were blind people leading blind people.

[25:52] Verse 14. Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, they'll both fall in a ditch. By the way, the Bible is light and Jesus is light, but what you've got to say, what I've got to say, is not the Bible.

[26:10] And it's not light. What you did with your food doesn't affect you spiritually. You're not swallowing demons. It's almost laughable, isn't it?

[26:23] You're going to wake up in the morning and eat a demon because he crawled on your hand while he was asleep at night. Verse 10. And he called the multitude and he said, Hey, y'all listen. Hear and understand.

[26:35] Not that which goes into the mouth defiles the man, but that which comes out of the mouth. That's what makes a man dirty. It's not because you eat pig that makes you dirty. It's not because you forgot to wash your hands that makes you dirty.

[26:49] Eating with hands that touch something that a Gentile touched won't destroy you. You see, they kind of had this idea and especially in Galilee, there were so many Gentiles around and you know, the dust on the ground had been touched by Gentiles and those nasty people touched the ground and you touched the ground and so you got the same junk on you and when you went to the store, maybe you bought something that somebody else had touched and you touched something that somebody else had touched.

[27:12] Maybe it was raised by a Gentile. They were getting dirty all along. They needed to have this spiritual washing in their mind. But Jesus said, That is so ridiculous. This is like stupid.

[27:23] He said, Do you guys not understand what happens with food when you eat it? You eat it, it goes in your belly and then it goes in the toilet. That's not what's messing you up. Look at what he said in verse 16.

[27:36] And Jesus said, Are you without understanding? And it was really Peter who asked the question. Oh, Peter has a real problem with this. I mean, it keeps coming up in his story. You recall in the book of Acts, he's going to get on the rooftop and they're going to let all the food down and he ain't going to want to touch it.

[27:51] And he don't want to get around them Gentiles. He's got a real problem with it. He said, You guys don't understand yet. Do you not understand, verse 17, that whatever comes in the mouth goes out into the belly and from there it's cast into the draught?

[28:03] What really affects you is what's in your heart. Look at verse 18. But those things that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart. What comes out of your mouth comes out of your heart.

[28:17] That's what makes you dirty. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts and murders and adulteries and fornications and thefts and false witnesses and blasphemies.

[28:28] That's what defiles a man. But eating without washing your hands doesn't defile you. What they needed was to quit worrying so much about washing their hands and to wash their heart.

[28:42] If they could get a clean heart, it would change everything. These religious leaders and their traditions are dying. They have no real power.

[28:55] Look at verse 12. The disciples came to Jesus and they said, Hey Jesus, don't you know you're making the Pharisees upset? They don't like what you're saying. They're getting offended when they hear you talking.

[29:07] Verse 13, he said, Well, every plant my heavenly father hadn't planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone. They're blind, leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, they're both going to fall in the ditch. That wasn't very nice.

[29:20] Now, I want you to imagine somebody coming to me and saying, Austin, you understand there's some church members upset with you. And I say, well, big whoop. They're blind. They don't follow the Bible anyway. They're blind people following other blind people.

[29:33] Let them fall off in the ditch. Who cares? Let's move on. You wouldn't say pastor too long probably, but Jesus is Jesus. He can say about what he wants. They're dying. They're headed for the ditch. They're not following what my father says.

[29:44] There's no real durability neither about them or their teaching. What God says will stand and men will fall and fail. Don't worry about them. They decided their own faith or their own fate.

[29:57] They're headed for the ditch. I'm going to end by giving you a little bit of application to take home with you. But I want you to see the story. I want you to see the story.

[30:07] I had Canon show you the story two times. You see how foolish it is to hear how the religious people are playing a game. They come to Jesus. Here's Jesus.

[30:18] He's come to earth to die. He is God in human flesh and he comes to earth to die and they come to him and they say, we're from Jerusalem. We are Dr. Bottle Stopper and we're here to make sure you understand you're doing wrong.

[30:30] Your guys are doing wrong. And Jesus doesn't say anything about his guys. He just says, and y'all, you make up rules and call them doctrines. You're the ones messed up.

[30:42] You're telling people not to take care of their mama. You're violating my father's commands. You say, my guys are violating the traditions of your dad's. I'm saying you're violating the traditions of my dad.

[30:54] And he shows them the foolishness of it. He said, you guys say Corbin and won't take care of your mother. And then you're all worried about using three ounces of water on your hands. an egg and a half of water.

[31:06] An eggshell and a half of water. It's what you want to use. So how do we apply this to our lives today? You should know there is nothing in Christianity that's based on externals.

[31:23] Attending a Baptist church will mean just that. Nothing else. Getting baptized in a creek till every frog knows you by name will just mean that.

[31:37] You've been baptized a bunch. No external. Getting christened when you're a baby. Getting confirmed when you're 12. Getting baptized when you're an adult.

[31:48] Taking the Lord's Supper. Coming to church. Walking the aisle. Filling out that dedication paper. Means nothing if it's external. Can you say amen right there?

[31:59] Now listen to me. There's the big clash. And it's very easy in southeastern Christianity to be just like a Pharisee. It's very easy to be just like a Pharisee.

[32:11] And by the way we love that. Your hair is too long. Your skirt's too short. Your pants are too tight. You didn't come to church on time. You skipped a service.

[32:22] You're listening to the wrong music. And we're real quick we love externals. If Jesus was here he'd say boys stop making all these rules. Oh me.

[32:39] You're fired. Not you. Me. It's not about externals. The truth will affect the outside. But we're looking at the outside and we don't know what is on the inside and he's not looking at it.

[32:54] You remember when they called David? Samuel goes to anoint the king and Jesse brings his boys out and Samuel looks at them and says man it's got to be him.

[33:07] And the Lord said that ain't him. He looks at every kid and finally he said do you not have any kids left? He said yeah but I left him out with a sheep. He said he ain't the best looking one. I mean if you're looking for a king he ain't really king material.

[33:20] And Samuel said well God doesn't look on the outside he looks on the inside. Turns out by the way he was a kind of red headed boy. Kind of red faced. Probably had freckles on his face.

[33:32] And maybe he didn't fit in with everybody else in his country but the Bible said he was good looking. But anyway he's the one that's chosen. It's not about externals. We look on the outside but God doesn't.

[33:45] It's never about what we do but about what he has done. You have to understand this. On the wall over here it says be, do, serve, train. And you may not understand what that's about but be is your identity.

[33:57] Be is your identity. It is who you are because of what Jesus did in your life. And you are born again because of what Jesus did not because you're a Baptist.

[34:09] You're born again because Jesus died on the cross and paid your sin debt. Not because you got baptized. You're a born again believer because of what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary. For by grace are you saved through faith and not not of yourselves.

[34:22] It's a gift of God not of works as any man should boast. So the real important level with God is a level none of us can see. God working on the inside.

[34:34] Now the outside is how you act. But we back that up. We usually put do on the bottom and then be on top and we say well if he's doing right he must be. But God said no, no, no, no.

[34:44] If he is, he will. It's different. Very different. So God's not looking at what's on the outside. It's your identity not your action. It's not about what you do. And I would ask you today are you sure you're born again?

[34:57] I don't want to know if you joined a church. I don't want to know if your name's on a church roll. I don't want to know if you've been baptized. I don't want to know any of that. I want to know this. Did you ever come to a place in your life when you realized you sinned against the Holy God?

[35:10] You sinned against the Holy God and you deserve hell and you trusted Jesus and what he did on the cross to save you. If that hasn't happened, you're not saved. You can say, well, brother, I've been a member of the Mormon church, the Seventh-day Adventist church, the Baptist church, the Methodist church, the Presbyterian church, the Methodist church, Catholic church.

[35:25] I've been a member of all of them. I'm pretty sure I got my bases covered. And God would say, I don't really care what you've done. My son did it all. And when he got finished, he said, it's finished.

[35:36] That means you ain't adding anything to it. You're not taking anything away from it. Religion still has traditions and we need to be careful to get into the scriptures and not follow men. That's an application that's very important because all through our world, we got these religious leaders telling us stuff and you fall into the trap if you're not careful.

[35:57] You read about the book and you hear about the book, but you never read the book. Too many of us aren't Bible readers. Too many of us are listening to Austin talk, listen to your Sunday school teacher talk, listen to the discipler tell you about the Bible, but you're not in the book.

[36:12] And what was wrong with the Pharisees is the same thing that was wrong with all the other religious groups. They read about the Bible, they don't read the Bible. I found it shocking.

[36:23] The missionary to Israel said it's amazing. A guy in sixth grade in America, Sunday school, knows more about the Bible than the authorities in Israel. The authorities in Israel know what the mission is, but they've never read the Torah.

[36:36] Then I think about all the independent Baptists and how we know what somebody told us. Bob Jones, Howells Anderson, Crown College in Pensacola and Austin Gardner passed down some things and we're like, okay, whatever they say, that's what works.

[36:51] When God's saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I wrote a book. I wrote a book. And I want you, you say, why don't we go through the Bible verse by verse like we do? You're kind of a simpleton. All you do is read the Bible and tell us what it's saying.

[37:03] And we're all looking at it. We're like, you ain't said nothing we couldn't have read if we'd have read it ourselves. Exactly. Because I want you to realize it's his book and it's good. I want it to come alive for you.

[37:14] Religion still has traditions and we need to be careful to get into scripture and not follow men. While their rules seem silly to us, we must remember they probably were as real to them as our rules are to us today.

[37:27] You realize that when that guy was washing his hands of those three ounces, let trip off, trip off. Okay, I'm ready. Demons are gone. Bring me my food.

[37:37] Okay, I've had the bread and now I'd like, I would like some drink but my hands are dirty. Let me do it again. Okay, all right, bring it here. You say, that's so foolish.

[37:49] It was kind of funny to watch Ken and wash his hands with three ounces of water. Yeah, but the rules you have probably look just as funny to them. But you think your rules are important and God's saying, I really don't like either one of your rules.

[38:02] Why don't you read my book? We should never get hung up on man's opinion but spend our time getting into his word. Remember this, not tradition but truth.

[38:16] Not tradition but truth. Don't lose your Bible to tradition. Never try to use truth to cover up for something selfish.

[38:27] Don't be a hypocrite. True Christianity is a hard issue. Can you imagine what's going on with those guys when they say, Mom, I wish I could give you some beans but I can't because I gave it all to God because I'm stingy and I don't want you to have anything.

[38:40] They use their religion to cover up for their selfishness. We do the same thing so often. No, the truth stands. So get into the Bible and get the Bible into you and let God's word make a difference in you.

[38:52] That's the lesson. There's a big clash going on. Religious people and Jesus. Do, done. Do, be.

[39:04] Works, a grace. You do it. Jesus did it. Where are you today? By the way, I've spent much of my life on this side way too far.

[39:16] Preaching almost every service about what you should be doing and all the rules and telling you dress this way, talk this way. Not here at this church. You don't know me that way. But I spent many years of my life doing that. Because that's what everybody did.

[39:28] That's the guys who taught me did. But the real story of the Bible is this. Let me tell you about Jesus. Let me tell you about Jesus. Let me tell you about Jesus.

[39:38] So if you're not saved today, you can be saved. And if you are saved, you ought to realize where you stand on this issue and decide, man, I want to serve him from my heart. If you're serving him from your lips, if your heart's not in it, if you sung those songs and it wasn't real, it's time to get it real.

[39:55] Quit playing games with God. Father in heaven, I pray you'd work in our lives today and I thank you for your wonderful word. I thank you for the chance to look at it. I thank you for these people. I pray your name would be glorified and blessed today.

[40:06] I pray you'd save somebody who needs to be saved and I pray to your God that not only would you save somebody, but that you would this morning bring some Christians back to serving you and honoring you and putting you first and I will give you great honor and glory and praise for what you do.

[40:20] I love you and I thank you. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.