Heavy Burdens & Hardened Hearts

Here in Luke chapter 11, verse 45, the Bible says this,

Luke 11:45

Then answered one of the lawyers and said unto him,

Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also.

And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers.

Maybe this guy should have just kept his mouth shut.

For ye laid men with burdens grievous to be born,

and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.

Woe unto you, for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets,

and your fathers killed them.

Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers,

for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.

Therefore also said the wisdom of God,

I will send them prophets and apostles,

and some of them they shall slay and persecute.

That the blood of all the prophets,

which was shed from the foundation of the world,

may be required of this generation.

From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias,

which would perish between the altar and the temple,

verily I say unto you,

it shall be required of this generation.

Woe unto you, lawyers,

for you have taken away the key of knowledge.

Ye entered not in yourselves,

and them that were entering in,

ye hindered.

And as he said these things unto him,

the scribes and the Pharisees

began to urge him vehemently,

and to provoke him to speak of many things.

It wasn't because they wanted to learn.

Look what verse 54 says.

Lying wait for him,

and seeking to catch something out of his mouth,

that they might accuse him.

We're going to preach a message entitled this,

Heavy Burdens and Hardened Hearts.

See, the Pharisees,

they had their own way,

and their own situation.

They were saying,

look how good we are on the outside.

Look how clean our hands are.

And Jesus said,

look how dirty your heart is though.

You're dead on the inside.

They had made religion about

just this outside facade,

and that's why Jesus multiple times said,

hey, you're hypocrites.

You're saying one thing,

but you're really another.

And now he's kind of shifting directions

here to these lawyers

that were there to help people

know the word of God.

He said, listen, you've missed it.

You're weighing people down

and making it extremely difficult

for them to find God.

And he said, that's a dangerous place to be.

When religion replaces grace,

it crushes people.

And that's what Jesus is teaching us

right here this morning.

So let's ask him to help us

as we jump into the sermon.

Father, thank you for this day.

Lord, thank you for your word

that we can open this morning.

Thank you for the songs

that remind us of your goodness to us.

And as Brother Cliff just sang,

Lord, I'm so thankful

you've been good to me.

Lord, I'm thankful you've been good

to every single person

in this audience.

The fact that we're here today

to hear the word of God

is a blessing.

Lord, I pray that you would speak

to hearts as need be, Lord,

that you would meet us

where we are.

If there's somebody

that doesn't know you as Savior, Lord,

that today would be that day.

Lord, I pray you would help me, Lord.

I need you.

I need you to clear my thoughts

and my mind, Lord.

I pray you'd give me the words to say.

That it would be a help

to the hearer today.

And we ask all these things

in your son's precious name.

Amen.

Thank you so much for standing.

May be seated.

Have you ever tried

to help somebody

and they did not receive it

as help?

You ever, like,

try to be a nice citizen,

a nice neighbor on the road,

so to speak,

and you're driving up there

and you see somebody's gas caps open

and you try to roll down

and you're like,

your gas cap's open.

And then they look at you

like you've just insulted

their entire family lineage.

Like, bro,

I'm just trying to help you.

You know,

let them know,

hey,

your blinker's still on,

you know,

because like,

I don't want everybody else

to be as mad at you

as I was.

You know,

because I was behind somebody

yesterday

and I kept slowing down,

slowing down.

I'm like,

their blinker's been on

for two miles.

I'm like,

I couldn't get around

and I'm like,

and you know,

it's just,

I tried to be in the spirit

but I really wasn't.

I mean,

the idea is,

you weren't wrong

and maybe you weren't

even mean about it.

You were just right.

And somehow,

that made it worse.

Because I think

we can all relate to that

because I think,

you know,

we've all been

on the other end as well.

That we've been corrected

by somebody,

we've been trying to,

they may be trying to help us

and it just hit a nerve.

Not because they were wrong,

because they were dead

on the money.

And we didn't like that.

We didn't like how that felt

and why is that?

Why is it sometimes

when somebody's trying to help us

and they're trying to correct us

and they're trying to show us

the truth,

it hits a nerve.

I think because sometimes

it's not just confronting behavior,

it's exposing what's really

in our heart.

I think that's what it is.

It really,

it gets down in there

and we don't necessarily

like that.

And as we saw last week

if you were here

in verses 37 through 44

and we see again,

that's exactly

what's taking place.

These Pharisees,

they were there

and it seemed like

they were always kind of

in the shadows.

They were always kind of

lurking behind

seeing what Jesus

was going to do.

And they took opportunities

like that Pharisee did last week.

He said,

hey man,

I'd love to have you

over for lunch.

And it wasn't a friendly invitation.

That's what he wanted it

to seem like.

But really,

he was looking for

an opportunity

to kind of really

get in there

and find something wrong

with Jesus.

We saw it at the end

of our text here today.

They were looking for something

to come out of his mouth,

the Bible said,

so they could just

nail him on it.

They could find

this situation.

And so really,

what he did is

he confronted these Pharisees

about their hypocrisy.

He said,

listen man,

you're so excited

that you're so clean

on the outside.

And you're following

all of these ceremonial

washing laws.

And Jesus went to dinner

and didn't wash his hands.

I mean,

and they just lost

their marbles.

And he said,

you're so worried

about the outside

of the cup.

What's going on

on the inside?

And he really exposed

their hypocrisy.

You know,

there are certain times

in life when maybe

the room is tense,

you shouldn't say something.

But you all know somebody,

and maybe you are

that somebody,

you're like,

I'm going to say it.

You're like,

don't say it.

And maybe your inner self

is saying,

don't say it.

And you're like,

hey,

we don't like how

you're treating our friends.

Because that's what

the lawyer did right here.

That's what verse number 45,

he said,

master,

thus saying,

thou reproachest also.

He said,

hey,

you can't say that.

Who do you think you are?

That's basically

what this man is saying.

That's kind of the idea

and the tone

that he comes with.

And he's really saying,

Jesus,

when you rebuke them,

I don't know if you know this,

but you're rebuking us also

and we don't like it.

You're really mean.

I mean,

that's kind of what's going on here.

That's kind of the attitude here.

So who are these lawyers?

The Bible says that,

then answered one of the lawyers,

now they're not attorneys

like we would think of today.

This is not a man

that would represent you

in a legal case

before a judge.

No,

these lawyers

were experts

in the law of Moses.

The law that Jesus

just kind of offended

and didn't wash his hands

ceremonially,

they were the ones

that interpreted scripture.

These were the men,

these lawyers,

were those that taught people

how to live out

the word of God.

Here's the problem though,

just kind of recap

a little bit last week.

They took the word of God

and then they added

a whole bunch of things

onto the word of God

and said,

this is the word of God too.

They had built this crust

around the law of God

so they wouldn't

break one single law.

And yet,

they were weighing

these people down.

See,

the idea behind this lawyer

and his group of friends,

they didn't just study

the Bible,

they were the experts on it.

They didn't have Google

back then.

If you had a question,

you couldn't Google it,

you had to go ask

one of these guys.

You had to run it

through him,

you had to make sure

that you were doing

all the things

that you were supposed to

and he was the one

that would tell you.

And as Jesus is confronting

the Pharisees,

they quickly realize,

I think he's talking about us.

You ever been in a situation

like that?

Somebody's talking like,

is he talking about me?

And that's kind of

where he's at

and he's there

and he's hearing this.

But instead of repenting,

instead of realizing,

you know what?

Maybe I've kind of

missed the mark a little bit.

Maybe I'm not exactly

where I should be

and maybe I should re-evaluate

how I'm teaching the law

and what exactly

the law says.

No,

he begins to defend himself.

And that's a natural

human reaction,

isn't it?

When we are called

on the carpet,

so to speak,

even if they're right,

I'm going to fight it

tooth and nail

to make sure that I win.

Okay,

come on,

don't act like you

don't do that.

And that's when Jesus

turns to him

in verse 46

and begins to

directly warn them.

And it's not just

a warning for them

because sometimes

we look and say,

well,

I'm not a Pharisee,

I'm not a lawyer like this.

But I think we saw last week

and I think we're going

to see this week as well

that sometimes we can

kind of slide into

the same things

they're dealing with.

You know why?

Because that's where

our heart likes to go.

We like to prop

our own selves up.

We want to make sure

that we're the ones

that are in control

and here's kind of

the truth,

the main truth

of this text this morning

is that when religion

becomes about control

instead of about compassion,

it crushes people

instead of actually

changing them.

Jesus didn't come

to crush people.

No,

Jesus came to seek

and to save

that which was lost.

Now,

don't misunderstand.

I don't have a lot of time

to go into this.

It's not all about

just love everybody

and compassion.

No,

Jesus is full of grace

and truth.

So we just want to make sure

that's clear on the top.

Jesus isn't saying,

well,

just as long as you love,

you're okay.

No,

there are some boundaries

and the law is good

and the law teaches us

those certain things

but there are many things here

that they were adding to it

that wasn't about God,

it was about them

and keeping their finger

on the people,

so to speak.

Because the law

that they loved so dearly,

that they studied so intently,

they had given their life for,

it had this one goal

to lead people to God.

When you look at the Old Testament,

you look at the law of Moses,

it wasn't a bunch of laws

and rules that you had to follow.

It was pointing to Jesus.

It was pointing to

there was a coming Messiah

that would change their life

and it helped them live their life

in such a way

that they could come

and have fellowship with God.

Listen,

when you read through Leviticus

and you read through

some of these books,

you think,

man,

this is so weird,

it's so boring.

No,

you know what it should do?

It should encourage your heart

that God wants to be close to you.

That he made a way

and that he brought it down together

and you have an opportunity

to know God.

That's what the whole word of God is.

It's so we might know him.

It's his love letter to mankind,

his redemptive narrative

because that has always been the plan

that Jesus came to seek

and to save that which was lost.

Not to give us a hundred million rules

so we can work our way to heaven.

There is nothing you can do.

He already did it.

That's what the cross is about.

That's why he gave his life

on the cross of Calvary.

But instead of leading people to God

by the word that they knew inside and out,

they were actually using it

to weigh people down.

To get them kind of in a place

where they thought,

this is not possible.

And as we walk through this text today,

what we're going to find is

Jesus exposes three dangers

of legalistic religion.

We hear that term thrown out all the time

and I want us to hang on

and we're going to see exactly

what he's talking about.

Here's the first danger

of legalistic religion.

It loads people with burdens

but offers no help with them.

Look at verse number 46.

And he said,

Woe unto you also, ye lawyers,

for ye laid men with burdens

grievous to be born,

and ye yourselves touch not the burdens

with one of your fingers.

When Jesus gets in these conversations,

we'll say,

with these Pharisees and these lawyers,

he doesn't really beat around the bush.

He said,

Here's the problem that I have with you,

you lawyers,

is you pile rule upon rule upon rule.

You pile expectation upon expectation

and standard upon standard,

and there's nothing wrong with rules

and expectations and standards,

but here's what they did.

They demanded perfection

and offered no grace.

They acted like,

Well, we keep these,

and what's wrong with you people?

Here's the truth.

They didn't keep them either.

On the outside,

they looked real good in public.

They looked real good in certain situations,

and when Jesus said

they were loading these people down with burdens,

he was not exaggerating.

I'm not going to bore you with it,

but they really had taken the law of God,

which was good and holy,

which was good and holy.

Don't misunderstand that.

We're not throwing the law away.

Jesus didn't come to destroy the law.

He came to fulfill the law.

He's the one that made the way for us.

No, it's a good and it's a holy thing,

but they built this extra crust of rules around it

to protect it.

And that may have been the heart at the beginning,

but as we said last week,

by this point,

it's all about them keeping control.

It's about their ability to rule the people,

and over time,

that crust grew thicker and heavier.

And by this time,

there had been thousands of additional regulations.

Just to give an example,

so we understand kind of what Jesus is saying.

Exodus chapter 20,

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

there in the Ten Commandments,

he said this,

Remember the Sabbath day,

and keep it holy.

And he goes on to say,

Thou shalt not do any work.

And really what they did is they said,

That's a great law.

Obviously the Lord gave it.

But we're going to protect that law.

And so they took that law of keeping the Sabbath,

and they created 39 categories of forbidden work,

and then endless subcategories under that.

Sounds exciting, doesn't it?

You know, I have a hard enough time with the speed limit.

And I'm like,

Does it really mean 75?

You know,

I want to,

we've got all these subcategories under it.

You know,

they took something that was obvious,

just do this,

and they said,

Well, we need to help people understand

exactly what this means.

To give you an idea of how ridiculous it was,

one of the rules said that

you couldn't carry anything more on the Sabbath

than a dried fig.

Obviously it doesn't weigh very much.

So if you carried,

if it weighed less than a dry fig,

you're okay.

But if it weighed more than a dried fig,

then you were carrying a burden,

and you broke the law.

Here's what they said,

If you carried something less than a dry fig,

you put it down,

and you picked it back up,

now you've doubled the weight,

and now it's a burden.

Isn't that stupid?

Now we're not probably supposed to say that in church,

but I just did.

That's what it is.

And I just want us to kind of

put ourselves where they are.

They even debated

how you should carry something.

Well, if you carry it in your hand,

then you're working,

but if you put it under your arm,

you're not working.

You know, if you carry it on your back,

and what's the situation there?

Can you imagine living like that?

I mean, you have to walk around with a scale.

How much does this weigh?

Oh man, I can't carry that.

I mean, you're constantly calculating.

You're constantly anxious.

You're constantly wondering,

did I just break another rule?

And by this point,

some people just got to the place where,

who cares?

Well, I'm not even going to follow this,

if this is what God is about.

I want no part about this.

And the idea with these lawyers

is they had made religion exceedingly exhausting.

They think, man, I'm not going to church

if that's what it's about.

I'm not going to synagogue.

I mean, what's the point of all of this?

Why is it so difficult?

And here's what made it worse

in Jesus' estimation.

At the end of the verse, he says,

and you won't even touch it

with one of your fingers.

You make all these rules

for everybody else to follow,

but you make all the loopholes.

See, they had a loophole

to get around all of this.

Well, we can do this

because of this, this, and this.

You couldn't walk a certain amount

of feet from your house.

So what they would do

is they would tie a rope

on their ankle,

and they would walk around,

and they're still connected to their house

so those feet don't actually count.

But they're lawyers,

and so they know.

You know, has anybody

ever tried to read lawyer speak today?

I mean, it used to be like,

you know, my grandpa's like,

I'll just shake somebody's hand,

and that was all you needed.

Now you like,

you just go and try to buy a meal.

You've got to sign a contract.

You're like, what does this all mean?

That's how they lived their life

when it came to serving God.

That's the burdens

that they had been placed on.

And the very men who made the rules

did not help the people carry them.

They didn't walk beside them.

They didn't encourage them.

They didn't show any ounce of compassion.

They just demanded compliance

as they said, we love you.

We're here as shepherds of Israel.

We love the law of Moses.

We love Moses.

We love David.

We love all these prophets

that we're going to see in a second.

They weren't shepherding.

They were controlling the people.

And that's why when Jesus showed up,

he had compassion.

He saw them as sheep without a shepherd

and he called them to himself

and he was taking those burdens

because that's what a good shepherd does.

You read John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

Jesus just lays into him.

He says, here's the problem.

You're a hireling.

You're in it for the money.

You're in it to get what you can get

out of these sheep

and then you're going to leave them

on the side of the road.

I'm the good shepherd.

I'm the one that loves the sheep

and I will lay down my life.

And that's what Jesus is showing us right here.

And I want to just remind us today

that legalism is still alive and well

and it still adds weight.

Because you know what it does?

It makes following God feel impossible.

It replaces the joy that Jesus offers

and reminds us that's available

for all that are in him.

It replaces that with pressure.

It replaces relationship with performance.

Listen, your Christian life

is not based on all the things you do.

God doesn't love you more the more you do.

Should you serve the Lord?

Should you do things?

Absolutely.

You know why?

Because he loves you.

Because he died for you.

Because he changed your life.

And you look at your life

and you think about that song

Brother Cliff said

and you realize this,

God's been good.

And you think of that,

if God's been this good to me

then you know what,

maybe I can help somebody else

see that God's good to them too.

And that's why we live the life

that we live.

And if people feel crushed

instead of encouraged by our faith,

something is wrong.

It's wrong.

We need to know that your coworkers,

your friends at school,

need to know that Jesus is in there

just to throw a whole bunch of rules at you.

You ever ask somebody,

hey, you go to church,

I'm just not into all those thou shalt nots.

But you know what?

When you really see the heart of Christ,

John tells us in 1 John,

his commandments aren't grievous.

They're not burdensome.

You know, you begin to realize

the closer you get to Christ,

actually the law was given

because God loves me.

Because he wants me to know him more.

He wants me to trust him more.

And that's why Jesus said later on,

come unto me all you that are labor and heavy laden

and I will give you rest.

For my yoke is easy

and my burden is light.

That's not the Pharisees' law.

That's not the lawyers that said,

hey, you come on,

we're going to make sure

you're doing everything right.

Jesus said, that's not how it goes.

That's not what he was searching for.

Listen, Jesus didn't come offering more rules.

He came offering rest for your soul.

And the same is true today.

Jesus didn't call us to weigh people down.

He called us to point others to him

and say, he's the way,

he's the truth,

he's the life.

Go to him.

Run to him.

If you're looking for rest.

And Jesus shows us that it wasn't just about

these heavy rules they placed on him.

It was about their hardened hearts.

Because legalistic religion,

number two, it does this.

It honors the messengers,

but ignores the message.

That's what we see in those verses,

in verses 47 through 51.

We won't take time to read it again.

But here's the idea.

Jesus is saying, listen,

you build all the tombs for the prophets.

You make sure their graves are looking real pretty

and you decorate them

and you honor the men that God used in the past.

But don't miss what he said.

He said, you're the sons of the very people

that killed them.

We think, well, it's not their fault.

And here's what Jesus is saying,

and you're just like them.

You want to act like you're not

because you're honoring them.

You celebrate the dead prophets

and you resist the living truth.

Because you know what the prophets were speaking of?

You know what they were teaching about?

You know what they were reminding the people?

Jesus is coming.

There is a prophet coming.

There is the Messiah coming.

And Jesus says, I'm here

and you're resisting me.

All the things Moses talked about,

all the things David talked about,

all the things you find in the Old Testament,

it's just a shadow of what is coming.

And he says, I'm here.

And they said, we don't like it.

You know, we love Moses.

We love Abraham.

We love all these men.

But listen, let's just keep them there.

Let's just honor what they did.

You see, they admired the message,

the messenger, but rejected the message.

And when you read these verses,

it seems like Jesus is being really,

really unfair to them.

Like, why wouldn't you honor the prophets?

Because Jesus, what he's showing us,

he was exposing something deeper.

He said, listen, the monuments are beautiful.

I mean, we go all around,

you can go all around the world

and you see all these monuments,

but it's not about what's on the outside.

He says, you build them

to keep the prophets safely in the past.

You want to act with your lips.

You got a bunch of lip service,

but you don't really believe anything they said.

You don't really believe Abraham and Moses

because if you did,

you wouldn't leave their life like this.

You wouldn't be following like this.

I love how one commentator said,

he said, your fathers killed the prophets

and you make sure they're dead.

That's what Jesus is telling them right here.

See, kind of what Jesus is saying is this,

you honor them where they can't confront you.

You know what they would say?

They would lift up all the laws of Moses

they followed to a T,

but they wouldn't speak of the other ones.

They wouldn't talk about mercy and grace

in the Old Testament.

They wouldn't live there.

You celebrate them

because they can't correct you in certain areas.

You remember where they can't tell you

to repent of it.

The idea is just this,

they honored the messenger,

but murdered the message.

Listen, the word of God is not something

we can say, well, I love this in the past

and let's celebrate this.

No, here's what we live by.

The word of God.

That's what Jesus is saying.

He said, you're so worried about tradition

and monuments

and you got everything in order

and this is for David

and this is for Moses,

this is for Abraham.

He said, what about the truth

that's in front of your face right now?

That's kind of what Jesus is saying.

And he's reminding them,

you can't really defend yourself

because your present actions

are proving what is true.

They weren't about the word of God.

Even though they were so-called experts in it.

See, the very,

what he's saying is the very ones

who claimed to love God's word

were the ones silencing it.

They had locked it up.

They had made it where it's

only by their interpretation.

They weren't different from their fathers.

In fact, Jesus says,

you're just partners in crime with them.

That you've made the word of God

difficult to reach.

And he says, because of that,

you're going to have even

a greater condemnation.

Because you remember,

it's been a while,

but a few weeks back,

he said, listen,

you have a great light.

Think about all the things they've had.

They had the word of God.

They had the Old Testament.

They had the prophets.

They had John the Baptist.

They had soon to be the apostles.

Their responsibility was even greater.

And these self-proclaimed guardians

of the word of God

were the ones killing the word of God.

That the everyday person

in Jesus' day,

they didn't really know

what God's word said,

but they know what the lawyers said.

That's why Jesus comes and says,

listen, I know you've heard it said

when he's preaching.

He's preaching to common people

like me and you.

I know what you've heard it said

from the lawyers and Pharisees,

but I want to tell you

what the truth is.

I want to tell you

how you're supposed

to live your life.

You think, well,

how does this really apply to us?

I think sometimes in our own lives,

it's easier to honor

spiritual heroes of the past

than obey God's word today

in our own life.

It's okay to honor people

and be thankful.

I'm thankful for men and women

that made this possible

that we can gather here

at a beautiful church building.

But we can't live in the past

at Central Baptist Church.

We can't live in the past

in our own life.

No, what does the word of God say today?

You know why God used these men and women

in our own church

all these years ago?

Because they obeyed the word of God.

That we have to do

the very same thing.

We can love revival stories.

We can listen to famous sermons.

We know great men of faith

and all of those have their place.

But God is still speaking today

and obedience still matters.

That's what Jesus is saying.

We can build great monuments

about how awesome it used to be.

Listen, the same God

is still working in your life today.

Listen, I'm thankful for revivals

that happened in the past.

I'm thankful for great sermons

that I can go online

and listen to from great men of God.

But I'm thankful that God

still wants to use my life.

That God still wants to have

a revival today.

That God still is saving souls

and changing lives

and restoring relationships

and mending marriages.

I'm thankful God still does that.

Why?

Because the word of God

is still alive.

It's still powerful.

Listen, we can celebrate

the truth so often

without submitting to it.

And when we do that,

it's just modern day tomb building.

Then we say,

well, we love all these things.

Well, you should love those things.

God used them in your life.

But what are you doing right now?

How are you letting God

work in your life right now?

See, then Jesus,

he exposes the deepest danger of all

when it comes to legalistic religion.

We see it in verse 52.

Here's what it does.

It blocks people from God

instead of leading them to him.

That's really what it does.

Look at verse 52.

Woe unto you lawyers,

for you have taken away

the key of knowledge.

Ye entered not in yourselves,

and them that were entering in,

ye hindered.

I mean, really what's been taking place

since verse 37 of this chapter,

I mean, Jesus has been throwing haymakers,

and he's landing them.

They don't like him.

He kind of throws one final haymaker,

and he's saying,

listen, these experts of the law,

they didn't just unlock the truth for the people.

They completely complicated it.

They had no idea what they were supposed to do.

They begin to wonder,

does God even love me?

I mean, how can God love me?

I failed how many laws this week?

I can imagine living in this time frame.

I mean, I would just be like,

I couldn't, there's no way I can,

I mean, 10,

we have a hard enough time with 10.

I mean, just think if there was 39 categories

with subcategories and this and that,

I mean, you wouldn't even know

you're breaking the law.

And you would think to yourself,

there's no way God can love me.

How can God love somebody like this?

Because their job was to point people to God,

but here's what they were doing,

standing in the doorway and blocking the way.

Hey, you can't come in here.

Only the lawyers and the Pharisees,

only the people that really love God,

only the people that follow all the laws of Moses

are allowed to come in this door.

That's why Jesus,

if you kind of hope you're piecing together,

he says, I am the door.

That's where you're supposed to enter in.

That these men knew what the door was,

but if people walked through it,

then they would lose some power.

They would lose some ability.

They would lose some sway over these people.

Think, how are they blocking the door?

Many of these laws weren't the law of God.

They were man-made rules.

They were blocking the door through their own pride

and their own spiritual control.

These men had laid burdens on God

that made God feel unreachable.

Listen, God's not unreachable.

In fact, for God so loved the world

that he came,

that he sent his only begotten son,

that Jesus made a way.

In verse 52, he says,

listen, you had the key of knowledge

and you took it away.

You say, what's the key?

What's Jesus talking about?

This right here.

Listen, you should be so thankful

that you have one of these right here.

I mean, you study even history.

This doesn't even,

after the first century,

you know what?

It was really difficult

to just find the word of God

at times in history.

Think of the dark ages

and they would lock it up

and only the priests could do that.

Listen, thank the Lord

you have your own copy.

And you should bring it

and you should study it yourself.

And sometimes if I say something,

you're like,

preacher, what did you say?

Listen, study it yourself.

I don't have the corner of the market

of the word of God, by the way.

You all have the ability to do that

and we should love it.

We should be thankful for it.

I mean, you can have it on your phone.

Isn't that awesome?

Don't be texting your friends right now.

I mean, it's so accessible to us.

Do not ever take that for granted.

That you have the word of God.

That you don't have to wait and say,

wonder what the priest says,

wonder what the lawyer says.

No, what does the word of God say?

You can go right to it

and you should be so thankful for that.

And instead of opening

the word of God to people,

they buried it

under traditions

and under interpretations

and under a religious system.

And Jesus says,

listen, the tragedy is twofold.

Number one, he tells the lawyer,

you have the word of God

and you're not even entering

into the kingdom of heaven.

He said, you have the map

and you missed the turn.

And not only did they not enter in,

they were making it harder and harder

for others to enter in.

He said, that's a dangerous place to be.

See, the warning especially speaks

to those who teach the word of God.

Not everybody's called to be a pastor.

But as a pastor,

I am not called,

I just want to make sure we understand this,

I am not called to preach my opinions

about the Bible.

I don't think you came here

to hear my opinions.

And you shouldn't have.

If you did, I feel sorry for you.

I'm called,

as your pastor,

to open the word of God

and preach the word of God.

Because you know what,

there's times in my life,

my opinions,

the Bible has to correct them.

When I start studying for a message,

there's things I'd like to,

I mean, I'd like to tell Brother Jerry

what to do.

I say that because we're friends

and I can say that.

But I don't,

I just want you to understand,

I'm just,

be transparent.

I know it's Sunday morning.

I don't sit in my office and think,

you know what,

I'm going after so and so today.

Because you know what,

when I open the word of God,

the Holy Spirit speaks to me.

And it's my job just to preach

what the word of God says.

You think, preacher,

why are we just walking through Luke

all the time?

You know what,

because I'm going to preach

what the word of God says.

I'm not going to pick and choose.

Sometimes there's going to be

a really fun message

in these last two weeks.

These haven't been the most fun messages.

Just to be honest.

But you know what,

we need it,

I need it.

And that's why we're going to

walk through it like that.

That as your pastor,

I just want to remind you

and I want to promise you

that I'm not here to preach

a hobby horse

or a personal agenda

or a cultural

or a political idea.

My goal,

my aim,

honestly,

my life's passion

is to preach

the word of God.

That's what God has called me to do.

And I just want us

to understand that

because Jesus is saying,

listen,

that was their job

and they said,

we don't like that.

It doesn't help us.

And we're going to do

what we want to do.

But I also want to remind,

I think there's a warning here

for everybody.

You don't have to be a preacher.

That we don't need

to replace the word of God

with books about the word of God.

Don't misunderstand that.

I read,

I said to all my Sunday school class,

all I do is read books

about the Bible.

But listen,

we can get so enthralled

about all the things out there.

Sometimes we study

all about the word of God,

but we don't actually study

the word of God.

And I'm the same way as you.

I listen to podcasts,

I listen to sermons,

all these things,

but we cannot replace

the scripture

with a podcast

or a sermon.

Listen,

you need to be involved

in a local New Testament church

with other believers

that are trying to do

the same thing

that is centered

around the word of God.

Because anything

that makes salvation

seem earned

instead of received

is blocking the door.

And I know this is

a hard thing to understand

in our world.

Not everything on the internet

is true.

But everything in here is.

You can find helps.

I use commentaries.

I read other great men.

I listen to other sermons

and kind of see.

But ultimately,

when it comes down to it,

what does the word of God say?

Because my job

is not to act like

I have the key

and y'all got to come

get it from me.

No.

I'm just reminding us

we all have the key.

That we all have the scripture

and we can all apply it

and use it.

And anything that replaces grace

with hoops to jump through

is hiding the key.

Standards and expectations

and practices

and things,

they have their place.

but they should be pointing

to the word of God.

Why we do what we do

is based on what

the word of God says.

He's reminding them,

listen,

you are called to lead people

to Jesus,

not make it harder.

He said,

woe unto you.

How dare you do that?

And when truth confronts

a hardened heart,

it produces a reaction.

That's what we see

in verse 53 and 54.

And as he said

these things unto them,

the scribes and the Pharisees

began to urge him vehemently

and provoke him

to speak many things.

They didn't want

to learn anything.

They said,

hey, keep talking.

We need some more ammo

to come after you.

Why?

Because they were lying

in wait and seeking

to catch something

out of his mouth

that they might accuse him.

See, their reaction

tells us everything

about their hearts.

But instead of listening,

they plotted.

Instead of repenting,

they just resisted

what God said.

Instead of humbling themselves,

they hardened their hearts.

And here's the truth

for us today.

That when God speaks

to our heart,

he convicts us.

That's a beautiful thing.

You should be thankful.

But conviction can either

lead us to repentance

or drive us to rebellion.

Sometimes the word of God

meets us where we are

and we don't like it.

They say,

well, I'm not doing

that right now.

Be careful

because that's exactly

what they did.

They hardened their hearts

to the word of God.

Their response was tragic,

but it doesn't have

to be our response.

Maybe there's some things

in our life

that we need to look at.

That when God speaks

to us today,

we still have a choice.

We can defend ourselves

or we can humble ourselves.

Back to that opening illustration,

sometimes somebody

starts to help us say,

who do you think you are?

We laugh about that,

but sometimes the word of God

speaks to our heart

and we think,

who do you think you are?

I'm just trying to live my life.

I'm a good person.

You know why God speaks

to our heart?

You know why he challenges us?

Because he loves us.

Jesus is not trying

to bury these guys.

You know what he's trying to do?

He's trying to show them

their heart.

He said,

come to me.

You know what he's saying?

You're miserable

and you know it.

Why don't you come to me?

I'm here for you.

I love you.

I love you so much

I'm telling you the truth.

I'm telling you something

you don't want to hear.

And yet they refused it.

The Pharisees were focused

on outward appearances.

The lawyers were focused

on control.

Both missed God.

Don't be in that boat.

Jesus did not come

to burden people.

He came to free them.

John tells us in John 8,

you shall know the truth

and the truth

shall make you free.

Who is he talking about?

Himself.

He's the way.

He's the truth.

He's the life.

As we kind of close it down

this morning,

I just want to

just kind of

bring it to where we are.

I think sometimes

we can be here,

maybe somebody here today

is carrying a burden

Jesus never gave you

to carry.

You've kind of

put it on your own self.

Some of us have maybe

placed burdens on others

that God never intended.

It's okay to have standards

and have convictions

and have priorities

in your life

and we all should.

We have to remember

that we're growing

and God is the one

that does the growing.

God is the one

that does the work

and Jesus is offering

grace instead of pressure.

He's offering this relationship.

He's offering rest.

Come to him.

Maybe you're here

and you spent your whole life

trying to earn

God's approval.

trying to be

just good enough

and trying to

clean yourself up

just a little bit.

Maybe you're carrying

some spiritual weight

you were never

meant to bear.

I want to remind you

salvation is not found

in a bunch of rules.

It's found in Jesus Christ.

That's where it starts.

That's what God

wants us to know.

He carried,

listen,

He carried your sin

to the cross

and nailed it there.

He paid a debt

you couldn't pay.

He offers forgiveness

and new life today.

Sometimes,

maybe you're running around

and you've got all

these burdens on you.

Give them to the Lord.

The Bible tells them,

Peter,

cast all your cares

on Him.

Why?

Because He cares

for you.

Maybe you've been told

and you've been taught

wrongly,

you have to do this

and you have to do this

and you've got to do

all these things

so you can make it

to heaven one day.

No,

here's how you make it

to heaven.

You call on the name

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You place your faith

and trust in Him.

You realize that

you're a sinner.

That all have sin

and come short

of the glory of God

and the wages

of sin is death

but the gift

of God

is eternal life

through Jesus Christ

our Lord.

It's not about

keeping the Sabbath holy

and making sure

you're not carrying

too many dried figs

and all.

It's not what it's about.

But maybe you're here today

and you love Jesus

and you know Him

as your Savior

but you kind of drift

sometimes into that

heavy religion.

Listen,

Jesus came that you

might have peace

but maybe your life

feels like a whole bunch

of pressure.

Maybe your Christian walk

feels a lot more like

out of duty

instead of delight

in the Lord.

Maybe it's fear

instead of freedom.

It's not what Jesus came.

You know what He's

doing today?

Maybe He's calling you back.

Back to that

intimate relationship

about resting in Him.

Maybe you've added

burdens to your own life.

Maybe you've placed

expectations on others

that God never placed

on them.

Lay Him down.

Get at Jesus' feet.

Let Him work

in your life.

As we leave today

I just want us

to take this truth home.

This one truth.

Jesus never

adds burdens.

That wasn't His mission.

It was to lift them.

Doesn't mean we live

our Christian life

like the Wild West.

We don't have time

to go into all that.

But your life

in Christ

should not feel

miserable.

That's not

what Jesus came.

These men were miserable.

And they were making

other people miserable.

Listen, the joy of the Lord

should be our strength.

In thy presence

is fullness

of joy.

Is that your life?

It should be.

Because that's what

Jesus offers.