Old Testament Reading: Psalm 51

“TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN NATHAN THE PROPHET WENT TO HIM, AFTER HE HAD GONE IN TO BATHSHEBA. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.” (Psalm 51, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Luke 11:37-54

“While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, 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. 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. But woe to you 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. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.’ 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. 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. Therefore also the Wisdom of 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 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. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.’ 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.” (Luke 11:37–54, ESV)

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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.

1. Introduction
   1. Here in the passage that is open before us today, we learn about a confrontation that our Lord had with a group of Pharisees and lawyers. The Pharisees were a sect within Judaism known for their strict religious devotion. The lawyers were experts in the law of Moses. They were Old Testament scholars and teachers. Many of them were also Pharisees. Here in this passage, Jesus confronts both groups for their hypocrisy and their misinterpretation and misapplication of the law of Moses.
   2. This confrontation between our Lord and these men should be of interest to those who follow after Jesus Christ, for we are called to be religiously devout, and we are called to know the Scriptures. But in our religious devotion and our handling of the Scriptures, we must be careful to avoid the errors of the Pharisees and lawyers. 
   3. One thing I want you to see this morning is that Christ did not condemn the Pharisees for their religious devotion, but for their hypocrisy. And Christ did not condemn the lawyers for their study of the Scriptures, but for their misinterpretation and misapplication of it. 
   4. You see, I am afraid that some, after learning of Jesus’ confrontations with the Pharisees, will error in thinking that all religious devotion is to be avoided by the Christian. They assume that religious devotion equals legalism. But this is not true. The Christian is to be religiously devout. The Christian is called to worship God faithfully in obedience to the Scriptures. The Christian is called to obey God’s moral law. The problem with the Pharisees was not their religious devotion, but their hypocrisy. Their devotion was merely external. It was not from the heart. 
   5. And some, after hearing of Jesus’ confrontations with lawyers, might assume that Christ was condemning their study of and reverence for God’s law. But this is not true. What Jesus confronted was not the study of God’s law, but the misinterpretation and hypocritical misapplication of it. The Christian must “know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,” (1 Timothy 1:8, ESV). 
   6. Let us now carefully consider this text together. We will only make it through verse 44 this morning. We will consider Jesus’ condemnation of the lawyers in verses 45-54 next Sunday, Lord willing. 
2. The Pharisees Condemned (vs. 37-44)
   1. In verses 37-44, Jesus condemns the Pharisees. As we consider Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees, we must do it, not to cast stones at the Pharisees, but to, with fear and trembling, examine our own hearts to be sure that the Pharisaical error does not reside within us.
      1. In verse 37 we read, “While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table” (Luke 11:37, ESV). What was the motivation of the Pharisee when he invited Jesus to dine with him? The text does not say. So far, there is no hint of hostility.
      2. But in verse 38 we read, “The Pharisee was astonished to see that [Jesus] did not first wash before dinner” (Luke 11:38, ESV). Modern readers might assume this was about hygiene. In our culture, it is assumed that people will wash their hands before dinner, especially if they have been working with their hands or out in public. For us, this is about hygiene. But for the Pharisees, this washing was about ceremonial purity. It was about religious devotion, not hygiene.
         1. One question we should ask is, did the Old Covenant law of Moses command these washings? The answer is, no. If it did, then Jesus would have washed, for he was careful to obey all the laws of the Old Mosaic Covenant. It must be remembered that Jesus was a Hebrew who lived under the Old Covenant. He was bound to keep the law of Moses, therefore. For him to disobey the law of Moses – yes, even the ceremonial laws – would have been a sin. And we know that our Savior was without sin.
            1. To be clear, the Old Mosaic Covenant did command certain washings. The priests, for example, were to wash their hands and feet with the water of the bronze basin that stood in the Tabernacle before they ministered at the altar (see Exodus 30:17-21). But the washings mentioned in Luke 11:38 are nowhere to be found in the Old Testement. These were manmade traditions (see Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:3-4; John 2:6). Matthew 15 makes it clear that Jesus and his disciples did not follow these manmade traditions, and it bothered the Pharisees. In that text, we read, “Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat” (Matthew 15:1–2, ESV).
         2. Here is another question: Would it have been wrong for Jesus to participate in this tradition? This is a difficult question to answer. On the one hand, we may say that some traditions are inconsequential. We all have family traditions, and that is fine. Societies and cultures have their traditions, and it is not typically wrong to participate in those. In fact, there may be times when it is right to honor manmade traditions out of respect for the home or culture you are in. I think of how Paul was willing to “become all things to all people, that by all means [he] might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22, ESV). To the Jew, he lived as a Jew, and to the Gentile, he lived as a Gentile. I take this to mean that Paul was willing to adopt and conform to certain inconsequential customs and traditions so as to not unnecessarily offend. There are, of course, limits to this. Never should a Christian do what God has forbidden in his Word, or fail to do what God has commanded in his Word. Never should the church compromise on matters of doctrine or worship in an attempt to please the culture. But there are some customs and traditions that are, in and of themselves, neutral and inconsequential, morally speaking. The tradition of washing hands before a meal might seem to fall into this neutral and inconsequential category, but Jesus and his disciples did not participate as a matter of principle. Why? Because they were aware of the terrible theology that undergirded this practice. These Pharisees were notorious for piling up law after law upon the law of God and teaching that men were justified through the keeping of these manmade rules and regulations. For the Pharisees, these washings were religious. Jesus and his disciples were resolved to have nothing to do with these manmade traditions that were contrary to God’s law.
            1. Perhaps a modern-day equivalent would be a Christian participating in the Roman Mass. The Mass is no inconsequential tradition but is a manmade religious ceremony rooted in errors that undermine the very gospel of Jesus Christ and erode the very foundation of the Christian religion. No follower of Jesus Christ should participate in the Roman Mass.   
         3. When Jesus skipped the wash basin, he knew exactly what he was doing. He was acting according to his conviction. And by disregarding this custom, he was sending a message. I think it is right to assume that Christ intended to spark the conversation that followed.  
      3. Jesus’ response to the Pharisee’s astonishment begins in verse 39. “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” (Luke 11:39, ESV).
         1. We should remember that Jesus was seated at the dinner table with this Pharisee (and others). You can see, then, where Christ drew the metaphor from. He drew attention to the cups and plates on the table and said, “You Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness” (Luke 11:39, ESV). If you had to choose between the inside or the outside of your cup or dish being washed, which option would you pick? I’m sure you would pick the inside. Here, Jesus compares the Pharisees to dishes and cups and he condemns them for their preoccupation with cleaning their outsides (their bodies) through their manmade purification rituals while leaving their insides (the heart or soul) filthy. And what was the filth of their soul? Christ condemned them for their greed and wickedness.
         2. I wonder if you can imagine the tension in the room. I imagine my Lord and Savior speaking with calmness, coolness, power, and strength. I imagine that the Pharisees and lawyers were deeply offended. My guess is that they were visibly agitated – wide-eyed, and red in the face. I doubt much food was eaten at this meal. The meal that was served instead was the spiritual meal that Christ was pleased to serve.
      4. In verse 40, Christ calls the Pharisees fools. We ought not to imagine our Lord hurling insults at the Pharisees while being driven by passions. No, but he did speak the truth. These men were fools. They were senseless and unwise to think that washing the body with water would do them any good while their hearts and minds were full of filth. They were fools, and Christ told them so.
         1. Those lacking maturity in Christ might take this to mean that they should make it their mission to call every fool a fool at every opportunity (thanks to social media, opportunities abound!) After all, they reason, Christ called the Pharisees fools, and so we should do the same. Well, there are a few things to consider. One, you are not Christ. It may not be your place to call every fool a fool. Two, Christ did not call every fool a fool at every opportunity. If he did, I suppose that is all he would have talked about! There is a time and place to call a fool a fool, and this was the right time and place for Jesus to say it. Three, it requires maturity and self-control to call a fool a fool without falling into sin yourself. Those who confront folly in others must take the log out of their own eye before trying to remove the speck from the eye of another. And those who confront sin in others must do so patiently and gently. Even firm rebukes can be delivered in a spirit of love and gentleness (see 2 Corinthians 10:1; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:7; 1 Timothy 3:3; 1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:25; Titus 3:23; Hebrews 5:2; James 3:17; 1 Peter 3:15). The delivery of a rebuke must fit the circumstance. Jesus was a master at this. He was perfectly right to turn over the money tables in the temple, to call these Pharisees fools, and to tenderly speak to the woman caught in adulty saying, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:11, ESV). His rebukes were always timely, fitting, and well-delivered. 
      5. The rebuke Jesus delivered to the Pharisees, as recorded in verses 40-41, was just right. “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” (Luke 11:40–41, ESV).
         1. The question, “Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?”, is a reminder that God is Lord of the body and the soul and that he is more concerned with the actual purity of the soul than the ceremonial purity of the body, as implied in verse 39 above. 
         2. When Christ said, “But give as alms those things that are within”, I think he meant, that what God truly desires is not the ceremonial purification of the body, but a pure heart, and love for others issuing from a pure heart. I take the phrase, “But give as alms those things that are within” to mean, do you wish to be pure before God? Then you must start with the heart. The heart must be pure, and then you must give worship to God from the heart, and do good to others from the heart. Perhaps you can see that we keep coming back to the first and second greatest commandments as stated back in Luke 10:25-28. You see, the problem is that the religion of these Pharisees was only skin deep. They were preoccupied with external things. They had forgotten that God is most concerned with the heart.
            1. I think it is interesting to note how this teaching from our Lord about true religion being heart religion finds its way into the writings of Christ’s Apostles.
               1. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:5: “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” The Christian reliogion is about love. Firstly, it is about love for God. Secondly, it is about love for neighbor. But this love, if it is to be true, must issue (spring forth) from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.  
               2. And listen to the Apostle Peter in Peter 1:22-23: “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God…”
                  1. I see both of these passages as being very much related to the teaching of our Lord found here in Luke 11. The Apostles of Christ had learned that true religion and true purity must spring from a pure heart. What good does it do to wash the outside of a cup or dish if the inside of the cup or dish is filthy? The cup or dish that is clean on the outside may impress from a distance, but if it is filthy on the inside it will, one, eventually be known, and two, they will forever taint the food and drink they deliver. 
               3. Jesus was right, these men who practiced a merely external form of religion while harboring the filth of greed and wickedness within their hearts, were fools. They knew the Scriptures and they should have known better.
                  1. Certainly, they were familiar with Psalm 51:16-17 where David says, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” What does this text reveal except that God is not impressed with external religion if it is heartless? What God desires is a repentant heart – a heart that looks to God and to God’s Messiah for cleansing. 
                  2. If these Pharisees were to practice true religion, they would first need to be forgiven and cleansed through faith in Jesus the Messiah. Psalm 51 also teaches this. That Psalm begins with the words, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions”. In this Psalm, David pleads with God, saying, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” A little later he says,  “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”  Finally, David prays, “Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
         3. These Pharisees who were preoccupied with external religion and ceremonial purity while neglecting the heart, were fools, and so Christ exhorted them, saying, “But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.” The meaning is this: if the heart and mind are pure then everything will be pure, for it is from the heart and mind that we speak and act. These ceremonial washing do nothing to cleanse the heart unless they are accompanied by repentance and faith. 
      6. Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees continues in verse 42: “But woe to you 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.” (Luke 11:42, ESV).
         1. When Christ said that Pharisees tithed “mint and rue and every herb” he drew attention to the fact that they were very careful to offer up their tithes at the temple. They did not only give a tenth of their large crops but a tenth of the little household herbs they grew in their gardens. Again, we see that they were very particular about the performance of external religious duties. Notice that Christ did not condemn them for their contributions but for their preoccupation with the particulars of external religion while neglecting much weightier matters such as justice and the love of God.
            1. Justice is the good and right treatment of others. Justice is required by the second great commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. And as you know, love for God is what the first great commandment requires. The Pharisees were fools to focus on the minutia of external religion while neglecting these much weightier things, and so Christ pronounced woes upon them.
               1. Again, the Pharisees knew the Scriptures, and so they should have known better. Micah 6:8 says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
         2. At the end of verse 42 Christ tells them what they should have done. “These [the offering up of tithes at the temple] you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”
            1. So, external religious devotion does matter. “These [the offering up of tithes at the temple] you ought to have done”, Christ said. It was right for the Pharisees to give a tenth of their mint and rue and herbs to support the ministry of the priests at the temple. It was right for them to do this, for the law of Moses said, “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year” (Deuteronomy 14:22, ESV).
            2. But this they “ought to have done, without neglecting the others”, namely, justice and love for God. 
      7. In verse 43 Christ puts his finger on the problem. “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.” (Luke 11:43, ESV)
         1. Notice the word love. This word keeps popping up, doesn’t it? The essence of the law of God is love – love for God, and love for neighbor (see Luke 10:25-28). And love is also the essence of true religion.
            1. Does God command his people to perform external religious duties? Yes, of course. From creation, God’s people were commanded to set one day out of every seven apart as holy unto the Lord. The day is to be observed and kept holy. It is a day to rest from common labor and recreation. It is a day for public and private worship. On this day, God’s people are to remember God’s work of creation and his work of redemption. It is a day for holy convocation (see Leviticus 23:3). This means it is a day to assemble with the people of God for worship. From Adam to the resurrection of Christ, the sabbath day was the seventh day. From the resurrection of Christ to the end of the world, the sabbath day is the first day of the week. The old Jewish sabbath has passed away having been fulfilled by Christ. The Lord’s Day has taken its place (see Revelation 1:10). The Christian Sabbath is to be observed and kept by the people of God (see Hebrews 4:9). It is a key component of the Christian religion. God’s people sin when they neglect this external religious duty (see Hebrews 10:25). If you think that we, who live under the New Covenant are without external religious duties, you are badly mistaken. God’s people, to this present day, are to keep one day out of every seven as holy unto the Lord. But do not think that God is impressed by your sabbath-keeping if your heart is far from him. The essence of true religious devotion is love.    
            2. And what are God’s people to do when they assemble for public worship? What is our religious duty? We are to give ourselves to the reading and preaching of the Holy Scriptures, to prayer, the breaking of the bread, and the fellowship (see Acts 2:42). These are religious duties commanded in God’s Word. We sin when we neglect them. But do not think that God is pleased when you attend public worship without love in your hearts for God and for one another. The essence of true religious devotion is love.
         2. The word love keeps coming up. Here in verse 43 Christ says, “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces” (Luke 11:43, ESV). It’s as if Christ said, Woe to you Pharisees! For you love… yourselves. You are meticulous in your performance of external religious duties – some of them are commanded in God’s law; some are merely the traditions of man – but you perform these duties because you love, not God or neighbor, but yourself. You love to be honored at church and given the very best seat. You love to be greeted in the marketplace. You love yourself. But your love for God and your fellow man is sadly lacking. And God is not pleased with this.
      8. In verse 44 Christ pronounces these third and final woe. “Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it” (Luke 11:44, ESV).
         1. Here Christ compares the Pharisees to graves. On the outside, things look nice. On the inside, there is nothing but uncleanness. In Matthew 23:27 we hear Christ say, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27, ESV). Though Christ says less here in Luke 11, the meaning is the same. 
         2. Furthermore, it should be known that under the Old Mosaic Covenant, if a Jew came into contact with a grave, it would make them cerimonially unclean (see Numbers 19:16). A ceremonial right of purification would then be required. The practice of whitewashing tombs in Jesus’ day was actually for the purpose of highlighting the graves so that the Jews could avoid contact with them, especially as people journeyed to Jerusalem during the holy days. The last thing a person would want is to become unclean by coming into contact with a grave. That would greatly hinder their participation in worship at the temple. 
         3. When Christ referred to the Pharisees as “unmarked graves” and stated that “people walk over them without knowing it”, he meant two things.
            1. One, though the Pharisees thought they were clean on the basis of their external religious devotion, really, like graves, they were filled with uncleanness. They were in need of true cleansing. 
            2. Two, though the Pharisees thought they blessed others and made others clean through their teachings and example, the opposite was true. In reality, they made others unclean through the influence they had on them. Just as Jews would unknowingly become cerimonially unclean as they walked over unmarked graves, so too, many were made unclean by the contact they had with these hypocritical Pharisees as they were influenced by their false teachings and followed their hypocritical ways. The meaning, I think, is that hypocrites beget hypocrites and uncleanness begets uncleanness.
3. Conclusion
   1. When I first started to write this sermon, I intended to continue through verse 54. Clearly, verses 37 – 54 go together. In verse 45 Jesus turns his attention to the lawyers, that is to say, to the supposed experts in the law of Moses, and delivers a string of rebukes to them. I do not wish to frustrate you today with an exceptionally long sermon, nor do I wish to shortchange verses 45 through 54. There is much for us to consider in that text. And we will consider it together next Sunday, Lord willing. 
   2. Let us now move this sermon toward a conclusion by considering applications.
      1. Firstly, I must urge you, dear brothers and sisters, to have a clear view of what God’s law actually requires and forbids.
         1. You do not live under the law of Moses. The ceremonial laws regarding sacrifices and washings and the offering up of tithes and offerings at the temple through the priesthood do not apply to you. They have passed away with the Old Covenant, for they have been fulfilled by Christ Jesus, the mediator of a new and better covenant. 
         2. But the New Covenant is not without law. The moral law is still binding on us. And to the moral law, Christ has added positive laws to regulate New Covenant worship and to govern life in his New Covenant kingdom. 
         3. To say that the Christian should be concerned about knowing God’s law and keeping it is not Pharisaical or legalistic. It is simply orthodox and biblical. Christ said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15, ESV). Every true Christian should desire to know what those commandments are and strive to keep them.
      2. Secondly, I must urge you, dear brothers and sisters, to avoid the legalism of the Pharisees. Legalism takes different forms.
         1. Often, the legalist will add manmade laws to the law of God. The motivations for this are varied. And here is another reason for you to know what God’s law actually requires – to distinguish between God’s law and manmade customs. God’s law is to be received and obeyed. Manmade rules and regulations must not bind the conscience of the believer.   
         2.  Legalists will also err in believing that they can be justified before God through law-keeping. This is not true. We are all lawbreakers. We stand guilty before God, therefore. This is why we need Christ. Christ kept the law for us and in our place. He also died to atone for the sins of his people. These Pharisees thought they were clean because of their law-keeping. They were not clean. Like you and me, they needed a Savior. The Savior is Christ the Lord. 
         3. Finally, legalists will often assume that religious rituals will purify them. They will not. The ceremonies of the Old Mosaic Covenant did make men clean in a temporary and earthy way. But those ceremonies could not cleanse the soul. In fact, those ceremonies – the washings and sacrifices offered at the temple – pointed to the fact that true cleansing was needed. The ceremonial laws of the Old Testament pointed to Christ! And something similar must be said about the ceremonies of the New Covenant. The water of Baptism does not cleanse you. The blood of Christ is what cleanses you. And he is received by faith alone. Baptism will not benefit you at all if there is no faith in the heart. And the same is true of the Lord’s Supper. The Supper does not save you. Christ’s broken body and shed blood saves you. And the supper is a sign of these things. Do not approach baptism and the Lord’s Supper in a legalistic way thinking that these signs function ex opere operato – “from the work performed” or “by the work done”. No, these are sacraments that point to the work that Christ has done. We must receive Christ by faith as we approach the sacraments as a means of grace.
      3. Thirdly, I urge you to pursue religious devotion with a love for God and your fellow man burning strongly within your heart.
         1. A true love for God will involve loving God’s Son, Christ the Lord. Those who love God will know that God is holy and just, infinite in his perfections, and worthy to receive all praise. Those who love God will fear him, knowing that they are sinners who stand before him condemned. And yet they will be drawn to him knowing that he is merciful, gracious, and kind. And where is God’s love and grace manifest? It is shown in his sending of the Son, Christ the Lord. Those who love God truly will love the Son dearly for the Son is the Savior God has provided. These Pharisees were fools indeed. They claimed to be religious. They claimed to be lovers of God. And yet they warred against the Son of God incarnate even as he reclined at the table with them. Truth be told, they loved themselves. They were concerned with their own glory, not God’s. And so they could not bring themselves to receive Christ the Son.  
         2. Lastly, a true love for our neighbor will involve exulting God’s Son for all to see. These Pharisees exalted themselves. They exalted their traditions and laws. They exulted their own self-righteousness. And in so doing, they hindered others from seeing Jesus, the Messiah. Dear friends, the best thing we can do for others is to exult, not ourselves or our traditions, but Jesus Christ. May we walk humbly before God and man and draw attention to our marvelous Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.

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