WEBVTT 00:00:00.440 --> 00:00:05.320 It was a joy to be with you this morning. Thank you so much for the invitation and a particular 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:12.019 joy to be with you, James, on the day you're being baptized. Let's turn in our Bibles to 00:00:12.019 --> 00:00:18.780 Luke chapter 11, where I think you've been studying in this gospel in recent weeks, and 00:00:18.780 --> 00:00:24.920 we come in that series to Luke chapter 11, verse 37. 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:36.520 After so many notes of a positive nature in our service, rejoicing in new life and new 00:00:36.520 --> 00:00:44.579 faith, and rejoicing in God's ability to bring people from darkness and into light, suddenly 00:00:44.579 --> 00:00:50.840 we're plunged in these verses into a world of negatives, where Jesus is speaking to a 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:58.680 group of religious leaders. When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to 00:00:58.680 --> 00:01:04.480 eat with him, so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee, noticing that 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:13.140 Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised. Then the Lord said to him, 00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:21.140 Now then, you Pharisees, clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:29.840 of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:37.540 inside also? But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for 00:01:37.540 --> 00:01:46.080 you. Woe to you, Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue, and all other 00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:54.180 kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced 00:01:54.180 --> 00:02:03.100 the latter without leaving the former undone. Woe to you, Pharisees, because you love the most 00:02:03.099 --> 00:02:10.340 important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, because you are like 00:02:10.340 --> 00:02:19.879 unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it. One of the experts in the law answered him, 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:27.079 Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also. Jesus replied, And you experts in the law, 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:34.640 Woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves 00:02:34.640 --> 00:02:44.340 will not lift one finger to help them. Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:53.640 and it was your forefathers who killed them. So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did. 00:02:53.639 --> 00:03:01.979 They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. Because of this, God in his wisdom said, 00:03:02.099 --> 00:03:08.659 I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill, and others they will persecute. 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:15.419 Therefore, this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been 00:03:15.419 --> 00:03:22.639 shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:29.139 who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held 00:03:29.139 --> 00:03:40.459 responsible for it all. Woe to you, experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. 00:03:42.239 --> 00:03:49.639 You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering. 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:56.459 When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely, 00:03:56.619 --> 00:04:02.039 and to besiege him with questions, waiting to catch him in something he might say. 00:04:07.639 --> 00:04:14.959 If the elders this morning had, during the song, opened up the floor here, rolled back the carpet, 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:21.879 and carried away these huge, thick, heavy bits of wood. It's very reassuring for me to see their 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:28.400 thickness. And then they had gone around the whole church and got all the Bibles from the pews, 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:35.939 all our own personal Bibles, all our iPhones that have Bibles in them, and they had thrown all of that 00:04:35.939 --> 00:04:42.860 into the water and then put the bits of wood back and nailed them down and rolled the carpet back and put glue down. 00:04:44.219 --> 00:04:45.480 That would have been a symbol. 00:04:48.019 --> 00:04:55.860 And that would have been the symbol of the elders of the church doing what the religious leaders who 00:04:55.860 --> 00:04:58.220 were listening to these words of Jesus were doing. 00:05:00.660 --> 00:05:05.400 Here were men leading the people of God, the nation of Israel. 00:05:06.220 --> 00:05:08.780 They had been entrusted with that leadership. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:15.319 They had access to the scriptures and the words of the Old Testament prophets. 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:24.639 And yet as we see this exchange take place between them and Jesus, we realize that what they had done 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:32.500 was not pass on the word of God as they were meant to, quite the reverse. 00:05:33.420 --> 00:05:41.899 They had despised it, hidden it, locked it away, twisted it, disobeyed it themselves 00:05:41.899 --> 00:05:51.139 so that they could get off lightly in their obedience and constructed a whole system of religious life 00:05:51.139 --> 00:05:57.799 that was simply evading the need to love God with heart and soul and mind and strength, 00:05:57.799 --> 00:06:00.599 as God's people had always been asked to do. 00:06:04.779 --> 00:06:10.939 And so we have this very hard-hitting exchange. 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:22.680 These words that come from the lips of Jesus and in so many ways strike a note of dissonance 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:24.379 as we read the Gospels. 00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:29.560 We're used to hearing Jesus speak with words of invitation and love and grace. 00:06:30.279 --> 00:06:34.519 And then suddenly in a passage like this, he sounds so different. 00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:38.759 But he had to speak like that. 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:42.319 And he wanted to speak like that to these people. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:54.459 There was a fellow on the radio this morning who was explaining that his brother had died, 00:06:54.859 --> 00:06:56.500 sounded as if it was an accident. 00:06:56.500 --> 00:07:00.000 And he had always blamed God. 00:07:00.100 --> 00:07:03.819 And he said he was still open to thinking about God. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.199 A spiritual dimension to his life was still there. 00:07:07.959 --> 00:07:15.980 But he blamed God because God surely was meant to intervene to prevent such times of sadness. 00:07:15.980 --> 00:07:25.080 And after all, he as a child with a good religious upbringing had been to the chapel and to the services at school 00:07:25.080 --> 00:07:27.620 and sat there for hours. 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:30.040 He'd paid his dues, he said. 00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:33.740 You know, I put in the right number of hours of boredom. 00:07:34.939 --> 00:07:40.220 Surely now God was meant to intervene and stop my brother from drowning. 00:07:40.220 --> 00:07:45.700 And you could see the man had come through a lot of pain and grief and sadness. 00:07:45.900 --> 00:07:54.180 But his whole idea of who God is and how God might act in this world had been twisted. 00:07:55.600 --> 00:08:06.560 And he'd been given an idea of a religious formula rather than a divine relationship of grace and mercy. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:13.800 And that's why Jesus had to speak to these leaders in these tones. 00:08:13.939 --> 00:08:14.560 Look at verse 49. 00:08:15.420 --> 00:08:20.600 I want to take that as perhaps the most stinging of the verses. 00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:29.699 God in his wisdom said, well, because of this, because the prophets had been killed by their forefathers, 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:34.059 God in his wisdom said, I will send them prophets and apostles. 00:08:34.059 --> 00:08:37.619 Some of whom they will kill. 00:08:38.919 --> 00:08:41.079 And others they will persecute. 00:08:44.500 --> 00:08:49.599 An extraordinary declaration of mercy that is from heaven, isn't it? 00:08:49.659 --> 00:08:56.199 That the Old Testament prophets had been killed by the forefathers of the men Jesus was addressing now. 00:08:57.439 --> 00:09:00.399 And here is God saying, I will, I will send them prophets. 00:09:00.599 --> 00:09:01.959 I will send them apostles. 00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:11.519 I will do whatever I can to enable men and women to hear my words of grace and forgiveness. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:15.960 Some of those prophets and apostles, they will kill and persecute. 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:20.820 But I want people to hear me. 00:09:22.100 --> 00:09:24.060 And I want them to know me. 00:09:24.059 --> 00:09:36.059 And that's why Jesus, speaking in this passage, is very much the last of the prophets. 00:09:37.419 --> 00:09:40.539 He's adopting the tone of a prophet. 00:09:40.759 --> 00:09:46.039 If you go back almost at random to one of the Old Testament prophets, you will hear this language of, 00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:50.579 Woe to you, woe to you, you have done this when you should have done that. 00:09:51.099 --> 00:09:52.939 Judgment is coming to the house of Israel. 00:09:53.059 --> 00:09:57.319 The people of God, the prophets were saying constantly through the Old Testament, 00:09:57.799 --> 00:10:00.539 the people of God have not been listening to the word of God. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:02.939 Listen to me, I bring you the word of the Lord. 00:10:03.079 --> 00:10:04.000 Listen, listen. 00:10:04.659 --> 00:10:05.519 God loves you. 00:10:05.599 --> 00:10:07.360 He calls you back to himself. 00:10:08.059 --> 00:10:08.819 Woe to you. 00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:14.640 And Jesus is deliberately adopting the tone of a prophet. 00:10:14.860 --> 00:10:19.740 And it's a very, very loving tone to adopt. 00:10:20.180 --> 00:10:24.400 It just doesn't sound like love in our culture. 00:10:27.500 --> 00:10:33.920 All of you who are parents adopt a prophetic tone, a loving tone, several times a day. 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:41.740 You say, if you do not go and tidy your bedroom, then such and such will happen or such and such will not happen. 00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:46.419 Or you might say, oh, you've tidied your bedroom, adopting the tone of sarcasm. 00:10:47.099 --> 00:10:47.799 Well done. 00:10:47.959 --> 00:10:51.099 How lovely when you know the bedroom's an absolute mess. 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:53.360 That's a prophetic tone. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:55.479 It cuts right in, doesn't it? 00:10:56.759 --> 00:11:00.059 Or sometimes you'll speak an emotive language. 00:11:00.059 --> 00:11:02.539 If you want to make mummy happy. 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:09.979 Now, none of us would do any of that or hear anyone else do that and think, ooh, how terrible. 00:11:10.120 --> 00:11:11.759 That person doesn't love their children. 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:14.039 Not at all. 00:11:14.299 --> 00:11:15.679 It's part of love. 00:11:16.379 --> 00:11:22.939 To speak in words of warning and emotion and challenge and rebuke. 00:11:24.419 --> 00:11:28.399 And to teach that there are consequences to your actions. 00:11:29.740 --> 00:11:32.740 That's all part of love and that's part of God's love. 00:11:32.740 --> 00:11:38.700 And that's the tone of the prophet here, as it was in Old Testament times, as it is in the gospel. 00:11:39.299 --> 00:11:42.180 Repent and believe for the kingdom of God is coming. 00:11:42.940 --> 00:11:44.639 That's a prophetic warning. 00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:50.180 And that's the language that Jesus is using here. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:51.759 We use it in our families. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:58.679 And here we see the biblical need for the prophetic tone to be used. 00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:02.480 We see that the house of God has gone to chaos. 00:12:04.539 --> 00:12:10.939 Here are people who have forgotten what the little children were being taught today in the children's address. 00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:15.340 That the water and the externals are just a symbol. 00:12:15.340 --> 00:12:26.720 The Pharisee to whom Jesus went for tea was shocked that Jesus didn't wash his hands or his feet or whatever it was before the meal. 00:12:26.820 --> 00:12:27.700 He was surprised. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:30.960 And Jesus knew he was surprised without him even saying so. 00:12:31.620 --> 00:12:32.899 Or maybe he did say so. 00:12:33.180 --> 00:12:34.200 Luke doesn't tell us. 00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:39.040 And Jesus says to him and to the others, 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:42.640 No, no, no, you foolish men. 00:12:43.100 --> 00:12:44.920 It's not the outside that matters. 00:12:45.860 --> 00:12:52.320 Do the ritual washing if you want, but only do that as a reminder of what needs to be going on inside. 00:12:53.240 --> 00:12:54.100 In the heart. 00:12:54.100 --> 00:12:59.500 Oh, he says to them because he knows them so well. 00:12:59.560 --> 00:13:05.899 You're so very good at carefully chopping up your garden herbs and putting one-tenth over into this little pile. 00:13:08.800 --> 00:13:17.120 For all the time the poor man down the street who's meant to benefit from your godly inclination to give and to be kind 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:19.820 is starving and you've not done anything for him. 00:13:20.460 --> 00:13:22.440 There's no point in doing this with the cumin. 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:25.020 Nobody wants a tenth of your cumin anyway. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:27.840 That's just meant to be a reminder. 00:13:29.700 --> 00:13:33.180 So that you will remember to be generous to the poor man at the gate. 00:13:35.640 --> 00:13:38.240 Of course, they've got the whole thing the wrong way around, haven't they? 00:13:38.260 --> 00:13:40.980 The poor man at the gate could go to hell as far as they were concerned. 00:13:41.140 --> 00:13:43.940 They would just do the religious thing with their cumin. 00:13:43.940 --> 00:13:56.920 What a need there was for Jesus to speak in these prophetic tones because the whole of the worship of the house of God, 00:13:57.100 --> 00:14:00.320 the family of the Lord, had gone to pot, gone to seed. 00:14:00.680 --> 00:14:02.160 It was an empty charade. 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:16.459 We were rejoicing today because, as James told us, what was happening in his baptism here was symbolizing what the Lord had done for him. 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:18.159 That was the reality of it. 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:22.120 That's what we were rejoicing in. 00:14:23.719 --> 00:14:27.019 The work of the Spirit in someone's life. 00:14:28.299 --> 00:14:31.639 The forgiveness that he has experienced. 00:14:31.980 --> 00:14:33.719 That was what mattered. 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:40.720 And the symbol, the small thing, the external thing, points us to that. 00:14:42.040 --> 00:14:44.600 What a need there was in Jesus' day. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:54.920 And the need was right through the entire leadership structure of the people in the temple, wasn't it? 00:14:54.920 --> 00:15:03.420 I love it when, in verse 45, one of the experts in the law says to Jesus, 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:05.180 almost interrupting him, 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:08.320 Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also. 00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:11.000 And Jesus replies effectively, saying, 00:15:11.060 --> 00:15:12.680 Well, I'm meaning to insult you as well. 00:15:12.759 --> 00:15:14.639 You experts in the law are as bad. 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:19.779 He's been going at it with the Pharisees and the poor experts in the laws, 00:15:20.540 --> 00:15:22.660 cringing, and says, 00:15:22.660 --> 00:15:24.420 Oh, but this is hard for us. 00:15:24.620 --> 00:15:25.660 And yes, it's meant to be. 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:26.360 You're no better. 00:15:27.240 --> 00:15:29.980 That's what my father used to say to me when my brother had been bad, 00:15:30.040 --> 00:15:30.920 and I looked smug. 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:31.840 You're no better. 00:15:33.720 --> 00:15:35.320 That's what Jesus says to him. 00:15:35.399 --> 00:15:40.240 It was, the whole thing was riddled with hypocrisy, 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:43.180 with externalism, 00:15:43.820 --> 00:15:45.580 with formulaic religion, 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:50.960 and with the sham and the danger 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:55.060 and the destructive seed of those who had managed 00:15:55.059 --> 00:16:00.339 to take the entire word of God as they had it in their scriptures, 00:16:00.339 --> 00:16:01.759 put it in a grave, 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:03.579 and seal it up. 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:07.919 That's why Jesus focuses on the issue of graves so much. 00:16:08.659 --> 00:16:10.639 They have buried the word of God. 00:16:12.839 --> 00:16:15.379 They killed the prophets and buried them. 00:16:15.379 --> 00:16:18.899 And Jesus says to the people who are listening, 00:16:19.299 --> 00:16:22.779 And you bury your fathers and honor them. 00:16:22.899 --> 00:16:26.439 But they buried the prophets and didn't listen to them. 00:16:26.659 --> 00:16:27.740 And you don't either. 00:16:28.740 --> 00:16:30.600 You have taken all your Bibles 00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:35.179 and opened up a great hole and put them in it 00:16:35.179 --> 00:16:36.460 and sealed the lid down. 00:16:36.460 --> 00:16:43.060 So, no wonder Jesus adopts the tone of a prophet. 00:16:44.060 --> 00:16:50.220 Secondly, can we notice the responsibility of a hypocrite? 00:16:50.220 --> 00:16:53.379 If you are a hypocrite, 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:55.560 or you're wanting to become a hypocrite, 00:16:55.920 --> 00:16:59.060 we need to be really careful 00:16:59.060 --> 00:17:02.220 that we understand the responsibility involved in that. 00:17:03.540 --> 00:17:07.220 It's one of the age-old excuses that people have, isn't it, 00:17:07.259 --> 00:17:09.259 for not listening to the gospel 00:17:09.259 --> 00:17:11.700 or not engaging with the gospel 00:17:11.700 --> 00:17:13.579 because people quickly say, 00:17:13.700 --> 00:17:15.160 Well, the church is full of hypocrites, 00:17:15.500 --> 00:17:18.220 so I don't need to bother with Jesus. 00:17:18.220 --> 00:17:21.940 While Jesus bothered with hypocrites 00:17:21.940 --> 00:17:24.019 and loved them very deeply, 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:26.519 which is why he went to that home for tea 00:17:26.519 --> 00:17:28.140 and why he spoke as he did. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:32.500 But being a hypocrite carries a big responsibility. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:34.579 Verse 50. 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:39.220 This generation will be held responsible 00:17:39.740 --> 00:17:41.720 for the blood of all the prophets 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:46.039 that has been shed since the beginning of the world. 00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:47.100 Oh, my goodness. 00:17:47.099 --> 00:17:49.939 That is a solemn responsibility. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:52.480 Right from the blood of Abel, 00:17:52.579 --> 00:17:54.899 right through history to the blood of Zechariah, 00:17:54.959 --> 00:17:56.959 who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. 00:17:57.539 --> 00:17:58.519 Yes, I tell you, 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:02.459 this generation will be held responsible 00:18:02.459 --> 00:18:05.019 for it all. 00:18:05.019 --> 00:18:18.779 Because in behaving as they have done, 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:24.160 these men have locked up the gates of the kingdom 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:27.900 to people who might come into the family of God. 00:18:27.900 --> 00:18:34.040 If you take away the word of God 00:18:34.040 --> 00:18:35.960 from the people of God, 00:18:36.740 --> 00:18:41.460 and if you live as if you belong to God on the outside, 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:44.780 but you do not have the reality of a relationship 00:18:44.780 --> 00:18:47.340 with God on the inside, 00:18:48.340 --> 00:18:52.940 then you are responsible for keeping others 00:18:52.940 --> 00:18:54.580 away from the Lord Jesus. 00:18:54.579 --> 00:18:57.939 What a very solemn warning that is. 00:18:57.940 --> 00:19:02.279 I noticed on your opening video 00:19:02.279 --> 00:19:04.519 that you as a church family 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:08.059 are very happy to put up in front of everybody, 00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:09.299 we are not perfect, 00:19:09.380 --> 00:19:10.680 and then the tea falls over. 00:19:12.080 --> 00:19:13.860 And what you're saying there is, 00:19:14.860 --> 00:19:16.720 we know we are still sinful. 00:19:17.320 --> 00:19:18.640 We're not perfect. 00:19:19.320 --> 00:19:20.680 Come into our family 00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:23.080 and discover that we all still struggle 00:19:23.080 --> 00:19:24.759 with selfishness and pride 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:26.920 and rudeness and childishness 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:28.220 and petulance and greed 00:19:28.220 --> 00:19:30.319 and all the things that everybody struggles with. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:31.539 We're not perfect. 00:19:32.379 --> 00:19:34.640 What a wonderful joy to be able to say that. 00:19:35.879 --> 00:19:39.559 It's part of the avoidance of hypocrisy. 00:19:39.720 --> 00:19:41.519 It's part of what it means 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:43.799 to follow Jesus with integrity. 00:19:43.799 --> 00:19:50.139 If I invited 15 of you at random 00:19:50.139 --> 00:19:53.039 to phone James' wife and children 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:54.519 this time tomorrow, 00:19:54.639 --> 00:19:56.700 they'd be able to list a few of his sins 00:19:56.700 --> 00:19:57.960 between now and then, 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:00.940 because we don't begin to follow Christ 00:20:00.940 --> 00:20:02.579 and then become perfect, do we? 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:05.079 We still struggle against sin 00:20:05.079 --> 00:20:06.700 and the devil and temptation. 00:20:06.700 --> 00:20:12.920 So hypocrisy does not mean that 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:16.200 we never make mistakes. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:18.940 No, hypocrisy means that we create 00:20:18.940 --> 00:20:23.240 a veneer of what looks religious 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:24.980 and pious and perfect, 00:20:25.600 --> 00:20:27.299 while underneath that veneer 00:20:27.299 --> 00:20:28.640 we're not even attempting 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.880 to please God our Father. 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:35.680 And it's that that carries 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:37.200 the big responsibility. 00:20:38.860 --> 00:20:40.000 And sad to say, 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:42.360 and this is the third thing 00:20:42.360 --> 00:20:43.200 I want to mention, 00:20:43.400 --> 00:20:44.780 it's not just the responsibility 00:20:44.780 --> 00:20:45.860 of the hypocrite, 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:47.580 it is the determination 00:20:47.580 --> 00:20:49.680 of the religious 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:51.960 that I want to finish with. 00:20:52.180 --> 00:20:54.240 There is a downward slope 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:57.980 that goes from ignoring the Word of God 00:20:57.980 --> 00:21:01.700 to becoming a religious hypocrite 00:21:01.700 --> 00:21:05.860 to becoming absolutely determined 00:21:05.860 --> 00:21:08.779 to get rid of Jesus and his gospel. 00:21:09.059 --> 00:21:10.580 That's where it ends, isn't it? 00:21:10.779 --> 00:21:13.319 Despite Jesus' words to these people 00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:14.580 when he left, 00:21:15.120 --> 00:21:16.960 the Pharisees and teachers of the law 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:19.759 began to oppose him fiercely. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:21.840 He had spoken to them in love 00:21:21.840 --> 00:21:23.319 and in warning. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:26.680 He had gone to their home 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:28.980 and looked them in the eye 00:21:28.980 --> 00:21:29.680 and said, 00:21:30.180 --> 00:21:31.600 don't live like this. 00:21:31.700 --> 00:21:36.500 Don't have a double existence 00:21:36.500 --> 00:21:39.460 that is apparently religious 00:21:39.460 --> 00:21:40.259 on the outside, 00:21:40.600 --> 00:21:43.039 but is full of self 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:44.360 and sin on the end. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:46.039 Don't do that. 00:21:49.500 --> 00:21:50.680 When he left, 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:54.700 they began to oppose him fiercely, 00:21:55.059 --> 00:21:56.819 besiege him with questions. 00:21:56.819 --> 00:21:59.819 They waited to catch him 00:21:59.819 --> 00:22:01.779 in something he might say. 00:22:01.899 --> 00:22:02.579 They are collectively 00:22:02.579 --> 00:22:06.179 like the elder brother 00:22:06.179 --> 00:22:08.819 in the famous prodigal of the lost son. 00:22:09.919 --> 00:22:11.000 Aren't they? 00:22:11.299 --> 00:22:13.559 The one who stood outside the house, 00:22:14.099 --> 00:22:16.659 bitter, angry, annoyed, 00:22:17.779 --> 00:22:18.500 determined 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:21.259 to have nothing to do 00:22:21.259 --> 00:22:23.579 with this lavish grace 00:22:23.579 --> 00:22:24.339 and forgiveness 00:22:24.339 --> 00:22:26.420 that was demonstrated 00:22:26.420 --> 00:22:27.599 to his younger brother. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:27.719 father. 00:22:32.199 --> 00:22:33.719 Well, if you're here today 00:22:33.719 --> 00:22:34.619 and you've always thought 00:22:34.619 --> 00:22:36.019 the church was full of hypocrites 00:22:36.019 --> 00:22:37.399 and that excuses you 00:22:37.399 --> 00:22:39.740 from engaging with Jesus 00:22:39.740 --> 00:22:40.519 in the gospel, 00:22:40.719 --> 00:22:41.959 then don't think that. 00:22:42.959 --> 00:22:44.319 Because Jesus loves 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:45.659 to engage with everyone, 00:22:46.159 --> 00:22:48.899 even those who were most opposed 00:22:48.899 --> 00:22:49.879 to what he said. 00:22:49.880 --> 00:22:51.760 He loves to engage 00:22:51.760 --> 00:22:52.400 with everyone. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:55.760 And what he warns 00:22:55.760 --> 00:22:56.500 all of us 00:22:56.500 --> 00:22:58.120 about today 00:22:58.120 --> 00:23:00.460 is that 00:23:00.460 --> 00:23:01.800 terrible 00:23:01.800 --> 00:23:03.900 road 00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:05.200 that goes from 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:06.720 hypocrite 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:09.160 to determined 00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:10.260 antagonism 00:23:10.260 --> 00:23:11.300 against the gospel. 00:23:11.660 --> 00:23:12.960 Don't end up 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:13.760 bitter, 00:23:14.180 --> 00:23:14.620 twisted, 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:16.480 hating Jesus 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:17.560 and his grace, 00:23:17.559 --> 00:23:19.740 but rather flee 00:23:19.740 --> 00:23:20.379 to the Lord 00:23:20.379 --> 00:23:21.399 with all your sins 00:23:21.399 --> 00:23:22.619 and imperfections 00:23:22.619 --> 00:23:26.419 and rejoice 00:23:26.419 --> 00:23:28.399 that he bids you come. 00:23:30.139 --> 00:23:30.980 Let's pray, 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:31.440 shall we? 00:23:33.799 --> 00:23:34.779 Heavenly Father, 00:23:34.879 --> 00:23:36.139 we are all so capable 00:23:36.139 --> 00:23:37.139 of covering up 00:23:37.139 --> 00:23:38.079 the reality 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:38.839 of our hearts 00:23:38.839 --> 00:23:39.579 and lives. 00:23:41.879 --> 00:23:42.839 We thank you 00:23:42.839 --> 00:23:43.879 that we cannot cover 00:23:43.879 --> 00:23:45.599 anything from you 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:47.919 thank you 00:23:47.919 --> 00:23:48.699 that you know us 00:23:48.699 --> 00:23:49.559 inside out, 00:23:50.059 --> 00:23:51.279 you know us fully 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:52.740 and thank you, 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:53.279 Lord Jesus, 00:23:53.439 --> 00:23:54.480 that you speak to us 00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:55.039 frankly 00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:57.059 and invite us 00:23:57.059 --> 00:23:57.740 warmly 00:23:57.740 --> 00:23:59.319 to repent 00:23:59.319 --> 00:24:00.539 of all our sins 00:24:00.539 --> 00:24:02.919 which we do now. 00:24:04.059 --> 00:24:05.059 You draw us 00:24:05.059 --> 00:24:05.839 to yourself 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:06.759 and we come 00:24:06.759 --> 00:24:08.399 not as those 00:24:08.399 --> 00:24:08.939 who deserve 00:24:08.939 --> 00:24:09.980 anything from you 00:24:09.980 --> 00:24:11.519 but as those 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:13.500 who are invited 00:24:13.500 --> 00:24:14.279 by you 00:24:14.279 --> 00:24:15.440 to lay down 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:16.339 all our burdens 00:24:16.339 --> 00:24:17.900 and to know 00:24:17.900 --> 00:24:18.720 your rest 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:20.299 and your joy 00:24:20.299 --> 00:24:21.119 and your cleansing. 00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:23.660 So we come, 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:24.259 Lord Jesus, 00:24:24.460 --> 00:24:25.700 with grateful hearts 00:24:25.700 --> 00:24:27.960 and in your name. 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:28.740 Amen.