On Whose Authority?

Well, it may be helpful for us just to remember here that Mark's gospel is not a collection of random events that took place in Jesus's life.

Now, we've said this many times throughout this study, and from time to time, it's just good to be reminded of it.

Because when we come to this particular passage, it seems like it is placed oddly in Mark's gospel, right?

I mean, it just, it kind of sticks out a little bit.

And as we're going through, we know that Mark isn't dealing with things in a strictly chronological way.

But he's just finished up this section where he's really dealing with the disciples a lot,

and these events that surround the disciples and them beginning to see that he is truly the Son of God, that he is divine in his nature.

And then he's about to move forward to some other miracles.

This passage contains no miracles.

There is actually some very important teaching.

But it just seems odd that it would be placed here.

Like, why not put this back in chapter 3 when he was already dealing with the Pharisees and the issues over the Sabbath and those kinds of things?

But, of course, we understand that it is not here by any kind of mistake.

It's actually here for quite an important purpose.

When we're looking at the overall timelines here of what's happening in Jesus's life,

remember, in these last few verses in chapter 6, Jesus's popularity has probably reached its peak in Galilee.

That's where he spent most of his time up to this point, especially in Capernaum.

And then there's this issue of the feeding of the 5,000, and then they're following him everywhere, and he's going through Gennesaret.

His popularity in Galilee really kind of reaches its peak.

But then remember, the very next day, after the feeding of the 5,000, John tells us that most of Jesus's followers left him.

And then what's he going to do at the end of this passage?

If you've read ahead, you know the places that he goes to next are not in the Jewish regions of Galilee.

He spends his time among the Gentiles now.

What does this passage help us understand in that transition?

It helps us understand why.

These men, these Pharisees and scribes, represented the apostate nation of Israel.

And it was necessary, as we'll get to in a couple of weeks,

it was necessary for Jesus to first go to the Jews.

And he even instructed his apostles to do the same thing.

But it was never meant, the gospel was never meant to be exclusive to the Jews.

It just began with them.

And in their apostasy, and perhaps even to reveal their apostasy,

Jesus spends this time in Galilee.

He exposes these Pharisees and scribes.

And then from there, he moves on.

You remember what they're doing.

They're seeking to destroy him.

And so Jesus leaves that.

Maybe you would think, if maybe you're new to the gospel books,

and you're looking at all of these really amazing things that Jesus has done,

and you think, everywhere Jesus goes, everybody that's sick is all of a sudden well.

Like, that's amazing.

And he's controlling storms with his words, and he's feeding people,

thousands of people, with just a few pieces of fish and bread.

And we think, why would anybody be against that?

Like, who in the world would see that and have a problem with Jesus?

Well, then Mark gives us this little example of why these people had a problem with Jesus.

They basically ignored all of those things of his identity and what he was doing

because they were so deeply offended at his lack of regard for them and their rules.

And that's what we're really going to get into today.

It may be a temptation for us, as we look through these verses,

to focus so much on these three parentheticals

that we actually end up missing the real issues here

and the main point of the passage itself.

This is a popular passage in modern times among modern Christians,

at least here in the United States,

because there's almost like this generational war that happens in churches.

There is one generation that are used to worshiping or doing things in one way,

and then there is another generation that wants to change all of that and do different things.

And this becomes somewhat of a battleground passage among some people

where those who want to change all the stuff that has traditionally been done

will come to this passage in verse 7,

and they'll just look at those parentheticals.

And they'll say, well, you're just a Pharisee because this is what they were doing.

They had all of these traditions that they did,

and then there was this Corbin thing, and look what this is,

and then look what Jesus declared was all of a sudden fine.

And they use this, they focus on the parentheticals to say,

tradition is bad, Jesus says we can do whatever we want,

and that kind of becomes their synopsis of the passage.

Okay, they may prove their point in pointing out the dangers of traditionalism

and certainly the dangers of legalism,

but in the process they may actually miss the point of the passage.

There are two major issues at stake in this confrontation that Jesus has with the Pharisees.

These are so important.

In fact, if you'd like to keep notes, you should probably write these down.

This is what's going to guide our conversation, our time of preaching today, okay?

The first one is this, the authority of Scripture.

The authority of Scripture is at stake here.

That's an issue.

It's not just about the Pharisees had a way of doing things

and others had a different way of doing it.

It's not just about that.

It's about the questioning of the authority of the Bible.

Then there's the way of salvation.

The gospel is implicated here,

and we're going to deal with that mainly next week.

Both of these are interwoven in both of these sections, okay?

They're interwoven all throughout.

We're going to deal with them both ways.

But this section that we're dealing with today

is going to have more of a focus on the authority of the Bible,

the authority of Scripture.

Next Sunday is going to have more of a focus

on how what the Pharisees were doing

was actually distorting the gospel,

and they were perverting a true gospel.

The great danger of Phariseeism,

listen, especially those of you who are like me

that just sometimes like to go against the grain

on purpose to aggravate people, okay?

The danger of Phariseeism

is not that they limit

your freedom to do what you want to do.

That's not the danger here.

The danger of true Phariseeism

is that it ultimately denies the authority of the Bible,

and it presents a false gospel

that cannot save you.

That's the point.

That's what we want to understand

as we go through these verses, okay?

I've broken this section today,

1 through 13, into just three statements.

Maybe they'll be helpful for you as well.

The first thing that I wrote down

for the first four verses is this,

developing tradition.

Developing tradition.

Look with me at verse 1.

Now, when the Pharisees gathered to him

with some of the scribes

who had come from Jerusalem,

they saw that some of his disciples

ate with hands that were defiled,

that is, unwashed.

And so we understand

that religious leaders

are seldom presented in the gospels

as friendly to Jesus.

And this passage is no exception to that.

And remember, the Pharisees and the scribes

played a very significant role

in the life of Judaism,

especially in the first century.

Now, these men considered themselves

to be the holiest of Israelites,

but their understanding of holiness

was very superficial.

It was all external.

And they established themselves

as the religious authorities of the people.

They demanded that all the people

listen to them

and follow their regulations

that they had developed.

And they were the type of individuals,

as we studied through the gospels,

that always had an ax to grind.

You know those type of people, right?

You probably work with people

like that sometimes,

that you can't actually have

a conversation with them

without them bringing up something

that they don't like

about what you're doing

or how you're doing it.

You know those people.

The Pharisees were those people.

And it wasn't just with Jesus.

It was with everybody.

They always had an ax to grind.

There was always something

they were picking apart

about everybody else.

And by the way,

when it came to their traditions,

it seems like they were actually

pretty good at keeping their laws.

But they were also very open

to condemn everybody else

for not keeping their laws.

And so Mark records

that a group of these men

come from Jerusalem again,

and they have surrounded Jesus.

Look at verse one again.

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him,

the implication here in the language

is that they have encircled him almost.

That's kind of the picture we get.

Jesus is with people.

The Pharisees kind of stand

in between that.

They encircle Jesus.

Why?

In order that they may trap him.

That's what they wanted to do.

And their accusation on this day

seems so silly.

What they were upset about

was that some of Jesus' disciples

ate some food in front of them,

and they didn't wash their hands first.

And they've determined

that because the disciples

didn't wash their hands,

that they're going to surround Jesus.

They're going to bring an accusation

against him,

and they're going to cause a problem.

Look at verse three.

Here's the parenthetical.

For Pharisees and all the Jews

do not eat unless they wash

their hands properly,

holding to the tradition of the elders.

And when they come from the marketplace,

they do not eat unless they wash.

And there are many other traditions

that they observe,

such as the washing of cups and pots

and copper vessels and dining couches.

So Mark gives us a little explanation here

of this is why they were bothered.

This is what was going on.

And so the first thing obviously

has to do with them washing their hands.

And then he says,

this is what the Jews do.

They do not eat unless they wash their hands.

And there's a way that they would do this.

This was regulated by the Pharisees.

They had to do it a certain way.

They took some water

and they first held their fingertips up

so that when the water came down,

it would drip off of their wrist.

And then they would immediately

turn their fingertips down

and it would run off the other direction.

And then they would take their fist

and they would kind of like

scrub their hands with their fist.

In fact, your Bible may actually

have a footnote here

that says that a literal interpretation

of this Greek phrase

means that they washed with a fist.

And that's what they're doing.

They're scrubbing their hands.

Now, this was just to eat a meal.

And then Mark tells us

that there are other things like this

that they did.

In fact, when they went to the marketplace,

they would take a bath afterwards.

And we can see archaeologically,

there are all these mikvahs

that are around Israel

that would be commonplace

and around many homes.

And basically, they were so concerned

with being defiled in the marketplace

because you never know

who you're going to bump into there.

You may bump into a Gentile.

You may bump into an unclean person.

Remember the lady with the issue of blood?

She presses through the crowd.

Nobody knows she has an issue of blood

until Jesus actually brings attention to it.

And then all of a sudden,

all of them are defiled.

They're all unclean.

And they got to go home and take a bath.

And they got to take a bath

so they can have a meal.

And there were these laws

in regards, not God's laws,

these were pharisaical laws

that according to washing pots

and cups and all these things

is really, it got quite extensive.

And that's really what Mark

is describing here.

And so the offense of the Pharisees

and scribes here

had to do with breaking

the tradition of the elders.

So this was developed over time.

Remember, there's a 400-year gap

between the return from Babylon

and Jesus' birth.

And in the midst of this time,

it started as a noble reason.

They began to develop these laws

that would help them

obey the Lord better

because it was disobedience to the Lord

that got them in the mess with Babylon.

And so they developed these things.

There is, in the 3rd or 4th century BC,

the Mishnah was developed.

This, if you were to have a copy of it today,

it's about 1,000 pages.

And basically, the Mishnah

is a commentary on the Torah.

The Torah is God's law.

That is the Old Testament scriptures.

The Mishnah is this really long book

that describes how you are to go

about obeying God's law

in various circumstances.

And then probably the 2nd century AD,

a multi-volume set comes out

called the Talmud.

And the Talmud is a commentary

on the Mishnah.

So think about this.

God's law is hard enough.

It's demanding.

And then these men,

over the course of all these years,

have developed hundreds and hundreds

and hundreds of more laws

that God did not require,

but they required.

And they developed this tradition

that became known as

the tradition of the elders.

Now, the motivation behind

the development of these traditions

may have been noble,

but they were fundamentally flawed

from the beginning.

And here's why.

The reason they developed them

is because they considered

God's given word

as insufficient

for them to know

how they were to live out their life

in various circumstances.

They did not believe

in the sufficiency of scripture.

So even if they just did this

so that they could try to keep

God's laws the best

that they possibly could,

their assumption was that

God's word wasn't enough.

Now, we need to acknowledge

that tradition

is not intrinsically evil.

We know that, right?

We all have traditions.

Our day-to-day life

is directed by tradition

that we don't even recognize

that we have.

The very structure

of our service today

is not based on something

that God has told us to do.

He didn't say,

this is what your service order should be.

This is based on tradition.

It's the things that we have gathered

and this is how we do it.

And if we change it,

it bothers me.

We don't like to do that, right?

But there's nothing intrinsically evil

about tradition.

Perhaps the way that we see this

most clearly

is in the celebration of holidays.

But at the same time,

we should acknowledge

that tradition

has this unique way

of creating division

and conflict.

There is a particular tradition

that my family has

that Julie and I

have fought about

for 12 years now.

And it has to do

with birthday celebrations.

Now, my family,

my mom especially,

since I was born,

I would imagine

even since before I was born,

even going back

to my brother's birth,

everybody's birthday

gets a birthday cake.

It doesn't matter

how old you are.

Now, this is a common tradition.

I recognize that.

But every year,

it doesn't matter

how old you are.

It doesn't matter

how you're related

to the family.

You may get no gifts.

We may not even get together.

But mom wants to know

that on my birthday,

I had a birthday cake.

And the birthday cake

is not like

whatever you want it to be.

It's a quarter sheet cake

that you get

from the grocery store.

It's white cake.

Don't even bother

suggesting chocolate.

It's not that

we don't like chocolate.

We're blanking ships.

We don't eat chocolate cake.

That's not what

we do on birthdays.

We didn't even get

marbled cake.

It's white cake,

buttercream icing.

Don't ask for the whipped stuff.

Buttercream.

It doesn't matter

what the design is.

It just has to be

a quarter sheet cake,

white cake

with buttercream icing.

And then to go along

with that

is there's candles

that correspond to age.

I know that's

a common tradition as well.

And then when it comes time

to sing the happy birthday song,

what my family does,

the right way to do it

is that

you blow the candles out

first.

And that is what signifies

to everyone in the room,

okay, it's time to now

sing the song.

It's like,

it's like the maestro

of an orchestra

saying, all right,

here we go.

And then he brings

everybody in.

Okay, the blowing of the candles

is bringing everybody in.

All right.

Julie comes along

and my sister-in-law,

Kathleen.

And together they decide,

I don't want sheet cake.

I want cookie cake.

Like some kind of barbarian.

They want cookie cake.

And it gets worse

because they don't blow

the candles out first.

They sing first.

And then they blow out candles,

which is so weird.

Why would you do that?

That's a tradition

that we have.

All right.

It bothers me

when we don't follow

that tradition.

Cookie cake is weird.

I like cookies.

I like cookies.

But then on a birthday,

you don't have cookie cake.

That's not what you eat.

Okay.

Now,

it would be one thing

for me to just acknowledge

I have a preference

with birthday cakes.

I have a preference

and Julie has a preference

and we just agree

that we have different

preferences on it.

Okay, that would be

one way to handle it.

Another way to handle it

would be to say,

Julie,

so long as you are committed

to breaking this tradition,

you will never be

a real blink and ship.

Right?

That would be another way

to process that tradition.

Here's what began happening

with the Pharisees

and the scribes.

They developed these traditions.

They developed these regulations.

And they essentially said,

if you don't follow these,

you are not a true child of God.

You are not a true Israelite.

You are not pleasing to the Lord.

Neither are you acceptable

to the Lord.

And it's not that

the tradition was wrong.

It's not that having things

that help guide what you're doing

is a bad thing to do.

That's okay to do.

The problem was that

they were turning their traditions

into something that it wasn't.

And they ended up denying

the authority of God's word.

And they ended up teaching

that outward conformity

to their rules

was actually necessary

for salvation.

And it produced this fear.

Think about these Jews

that would go to the marketplace.

They're so worried

about being unclean

because they accidentally

touched somebody

that is ceremonial unclean

that all of a sudden

they're not acceptable

to God anymore.

And so they have baths

outside of their house

in order that they can clean up

as soon as they come back

from the marketplace

so that God doesn't get angry

with them.

That's what,

it developed this fear.

Now listen,

I don't know what kind of environment

you've grown up in.

And I don't know

what kind of traditions

you've been taught

throughout your life.

And again,

there's nothing wrong

with traditions

in and of themselves.

But if you're living

by traditions

to the extent

that you think

if I don't hurry up

and fix this thing

that I messed up,

God's going to be angry with me,

there's a problem.

So first we see

developing tradition,

then we see

elevating tradition.

Verse five,

and the Pharisees

and the scribes

asked him,

why do your disciples

not walk according

to the tradition

of the elders,

but instead

eat with defiled hands?

Now this is not

an example

of a genuine inquiry

on their part.

They're not asking

a sincere question here.

This is an accusation.

Remember,

they were not Galileans.

Mark says in verse one,

they came from Jerusalem

and there's one reason

that they came.

They wanted to entrap Jesus.

They were trying

to find a way

to accuse him

in order that they might

destroy him.

In fact,

just flip a couple of pages

back to chapter three.

We've seen this already.

Mark chapter three,

look at verse six.

Jesus has just healed

the man with the withered hand.

They were unhappy

that he did that

on the Sabbath.

And here's what happened.

The Pharisees went out

and immediately held counsel

with the Herodians,

which were their enemies,

and they held counsel

against him

how they might

destroy him.

That's months

before

this takes place,

or at least in the way

that Mark presents it.

Months before.

Now there are

these delegations

of Pharisees

and scribes

coming to Galilee

from Jerusalem

for the sole purpose

of finding a way

to accuse Jesus

so that they might

destroy him.

And why did they

want to destroy him?

It wasn't because

he broke God's law.

It wasn't because

he was doing bad things.

It was because

he broke their law

and their tradition.

Their anger

was not due

to any violation

against God.

It was their own pride.

They had elevated

their traditions

to a place

of equality

with God's word.

So they were

deeply offended then

whenever Jesus

and his disciples

disregarded their rules.

Now think about this.

Their hearts

were so hardened

to the truth

that they refused

to consider

all that Jesus

had done and taught.

They were so filled

with pride

that they sought

to destroy

to murder

the one

who walked on water

and healed

the multitudes

and fed

thousands of people

and all these things

we've seen Jesus do.

They didn't care

about that.

They were blind

to that.

Why?

Their own pride.

And what their pride

had caused them

to do was elevate

their tradition

to the place

of God's word.

Now this question

also reveals

another problem.

This question

that the Pharisees

and scribes

asked Jesus.

And it's not only

that they denied

the authority

of scripture

but it actually

begins to reveal

their false gospel.

So by elevating

their rules

to be equal

with God's word

they linked

acceptance

with God

with conformity

to their laws.

And essentially

this is what

their question

was saying.

You can't be

right with God

if you're

not obedient

to us.

Do you see

the link

that's being made

here?

This is a legitimate

link.

They're saying

if you break

our law

it's as if

you are breaking

God's law

therefore the one

who is really

offended right now

is not the

pharisaical sect

but it's God

himself

is displeased

with you

not because

of his law

but because

of our law.

And so

we begin

to see

their false

gospel.

Their gospel

that they're

purporting

is that

you are

right with

God

based on

how you

fulfill

the law.

It was

self-righteousness

had nothing

to do

with God's

grace

had nothing

to do

with mercy

had nothing

to do

with faith

it was

totally

antithetical

to everything

Jesus was

teaching

was true.

And they

said no

eternal life

and acceptance

with God

is based

on how

good of a

Jew you

are

and not

only how

good of a

Jew you

are

but how

well you

follow all

of these

other things

as well.

They had

elevated

their

tradition.

And this

is the

very

definition

of

legalism

isn't it?

That's the

word that

we most

often use

for this

is legalism

and we

can be a

little too

quick to

label someone

as a

legalist

simply for

having a

particular

standard

and that's

really wrong

of us

to do

but

true

legalism

is when

outward

conformity

is linked

with

acceptance

with

God

in

eternity.

That's

true

legalism.

It

perverts

the

gospel

and

it

diminishes

God's

word.

Now I want

to be

careful

I'm going

to illustrate

this and

I want

to be

careful

how I

do it

because

I don't

want

to be

disrespectful.

Julie

and I

both grew

up in

some

environments

that

leaned

this way

in some

areas

and Julie

I think

more so

than me

and we

know people

who have

put such

an incredible

amount of

emphasis on

external matters

like what

you wear

and in an

attempt to

guard against

immodesty

and inappropriate

dress which are

good things to

guard against

they developed

these particular

traditions and

rules that

they would try

to enforce on

others and

it was a

noble reason

at heart but

what they ended

up doing was

falling into

this pharisaical

trap and

let's be

honest I

have plenty

of those

things in

that I'm

guilty of

doing as

well and

have been

now

there was a

particular thing

that they

felt was

especially

egregious

and that was

for a

woman to

wear pants

and I

don't mean

this in a

funny way I

mean this in

a real way

this is this

and they still

live this way

they believe

this in this

way that a

woman shouldn't

wear pants

now if that's

a standard that

you have that

bothers me not

in the least

bit I think

that's fine my

mom for the

most part

lives that

way and

there's no

problem there

but what

they would do

is this would

work itself

out in many

kind of

unreasonable

ways what

they would

do is they

would quote

this passage

in Leviticus

that says a

woman should

not wear that

which pertained

to a man and

a man should

not wear that

which pertained

to a woman

and they would

say well pants

really belong to

a man so for

a woman to wear

pants that means

that their

femininity has

been diminished

and they're

actually becoming

more masculine

in that process

and then when you

say well explain

to me how that

works and they

would point to

restroom signs and

they say well how

do you know which

bathroom to go to

and so you only

know because the

ladies restroom has

a symbol with a

woman with a

skirt and a

men's restroom you

only know that

that's the men's

not because it

says men's but

because there's a

symbol of pants

and that and they

honestly that's that's

what they would use

they would they

would describe it in

this way there and

there were funny

things that were

outworkings of this

whenever Julie

growing up in her

youth group whenever

they would go on a

ski trip from time

to time they they

were it was

necessary their

particular regulation

was to wear culottes

if you know what

those are they're

kind of unusual but

they're I think

they're popular I

think they get

popular again aren't

they but this they

were popular anyways

they would wear these

culottes well they

would wear ski bibs

and you know what

ski bibs are they

may basically make

you look like

brightly colored

marshmallows coming

down the the ski slope

like they're just

massive like they're

puffy those kinds of

things they would have

ski bibs they

weren't allowed to

just wear ski bibs

they had to wear

culottes over top of

their ski bibs and

they called them ski

lots is what they

called them and which

is just a silly way to

see how this begins to

be an outworking of of

this tradition now if

that's a tradition you

hold fine no problem

the problem becomes when

they begin to link

conformity to those

regulations to the

sincerity and genuine

nature of a person's

heart for Jesus none of

none of my friends in in

that in that particular

situation would ever say

that salvation comes

from anything except for

the grace of God but but

it would not be uncommon

for a woman to come to

church in a pair of

pants and then leave and

then the statement after

they walk out is can you

believe they call

themselves a Christian and

they would dress like that

to church now we can

apply that to a lot of

different things in my

my experience there were

movie theaters was a

problem you couldn't do

that there there were

other things drum sets

and lots of like silly

things okay silly things

washing hands and

washing pots those kinds

of things and the problem

is not that they had

these standards the problem

is that they judged a

person's heart for God on

the basis of their

conformity to their rules

not actually their genuine

heart to obey God and

worship him and love him

according to the

scriptures you understand

the problem here the

difference I'm not saying

that it's problem to have

rules or traditions that's

fine that may be helpful

but we must be careful and

before we condemn people

like I just illustrated

let's stop and think about

all the subtle ways that we

may be doing the same thing

how quickly we may judge a

person's heart with God based

on the way that they look or

or some things that that they

may do that really just break

our cultural standard more

than it actually breaks God's

law we have those things don't

we I can think of those things

in my own heart I know you can

too and it may not be quite as

silly as ski lots but we need

to beware of this I have more

preferences than probably you

could bear to listen to my

preferences always need to be

subservient to the truth that's

the emphasis here what is it

that matters God's law not

Jared's law so have your cookie

cake and wear your ski bibs and

bang your drum Kyle and less

obedient to the Lord finally

idolizing tradition developing

tradition elevating tradition and

then Jesus exposes it as not

merely elevating it to the place

of scripture but he exposes it as

a form of idolatry you can sense the

righteous indignation in Jesus's

words here that we're about to read

he responds to them with passion it's

emphatic even in English there's a

place where they reveal this the

emphatic nature the language I'm

putting an explanation point on I

think it's verse number nine they put

that here because Jesus's words here

are so forceful he's seeing he's

seeing more to this than what is just

a misplaced tradition they become an

idol verse 6 and he said to them

well did Isaiah prophesy of you

hypocrites as it is written this

people honors me with their lips but

their heart is far from me in vain

they worship me teaching as

doctrines the commandments of men you

leave the commandment of God and hold

to the tradition of men so on the one

hand the Pharisees were denying the

authority of scripture by elevating

their rules on the other hand Jesus

was affirming the authority of

scripture by using Isaiah's prophecy to

say this is who you are Isaiah was

talking about you that everything looks

fine on the outside it looks like

you've got it all together and you're

wearing all the right things and you're

saying all the right things and and

nobody's gonna be more pious than what

you are but your heart is far from him

and Jesus goes on to say that means that

your worship is worthless in vain you

worship me why because you teach as

commandments the doctrines of men he

says you're a bunch of hypocrites what

does he mean by that he doesn't mean

that they have moments of weakness where

they fall short of their own standard

that's just called being human okay this

this word is it comes from Greek theater

it has to do with putting on a mask in

fact I think that's might be a more

literal translation is to put on a mask

whenever they would have these three

theatrical shows in Greek culture they

would have mask attached to sticks

perhaps and they would that would show

which character they were performing as

in that moment okay now the mask was

one thing the person behind the mask was

something completely different and

that's what Jesus is saying you're like

these people in the theater on the

outside this is what you say and this is

what you do and and you've got this this

exterior functioning as if you are a

a great child of God and a great

Israelite but in your heart you

couldn't be further from that you're

completely different person it's not

really who you are they honor God with

their lips but they didn't genuinely

love him with their hearts in the

process of all of this lawmaking they

failed to follow the most important law

Deuteronomy 6 5 you shall love the

Lord your God with all your heart and

with all your soul and with all your

might and you may want to write down

Isaiah chapter 1 verses 10 through 18

Isaiah 1:10–18

we'll go there now but you may want to

read that later God's problem with

Israel in those moments was not that

they weren't doing the feast and they

weren't doing the sacrifices his problem

actually was that they were doing it he

said I'm tired of your feast I'm tired of

your sacrifices because they don't have

your heart and Jesus concluded this

charge against them by saying they had

rejected the word of God in order to

hold to their traditions so that their

tradition quite literally had become an

idol and by enforcing their laws in the

place of God's word they ultimately made

themselves gods this is what Sinclair

Ferguson said they had replaced God's

love with self-love God's law with man's

tradition and having made themselves

their own gods they were insisting that

others follow them or perish now they

would have never said that but that's

essentially what they were doing verse

9 Jesus gives an example and he said to

them you have a fine way of rejecting the

commandment of God in order to establish

your tradition for Moses said honor your

father and your mother and whoever reviles

father or mother must surely die but you

say if a man tells his father or his

mother whatever you would have gained from

me as Corbin that is given to God then you

no longer permit him to do anything for

his father or mother thus you make void the

word of God by your tradition that you have

handed down and many such things you do you

can imagine the shock on their face when

Jesus makes the charge and then he gives this

example of what they were actually doing it

was emphatic and you need to remember here

that their tradition was initially developed as

a means of keeping God's law but what Jesus

was now condemning them for was intentionally

rejecting God's law he said you have a clever

way of rejecting the commandment in place of your

own tradition now this example that he gives has

to do with this tradition called Corbin and

basically the way that it works it kind of gets

convoluted but the way that it works is if a

person wanted to designate their possessions for a gift

to God or to God's service a pharisaical tradition was

that they would pronounce Corbin over those possessions

and they would remain in control of those things but

they weren't allowed to be used for other purposes or

given to other people okay so they they say I want to

give this to God I'm going to pronounce Corbin over it and

at the end of my life it goes to the church or goes to the

temple goes to whatever okay that's essentially what is

happening here and there's a couple of reasons that people

may do this the first reason is a genuine devotion to God and

there's nothing wrong with that the Bible talks about making vows there's

no problem with making a vow to the Lord we need to make sure we're very

mindful of how we do that but essentially they would say I want to

please the Lord I want to give this to the Lord and so they pronounce

Corbin and the situation that Jesus presents is as if a young man has

pronounced Corbin over a certain amount of possessions to be given to the

Lord and then some point down the road his aged parents have a problem and

they need assistance and they come to him and they say we need some help can

you help and and care for us as Moses has commanded that we do

and they go and they say okay I want to help and then the Pharisees stop them and

say no you can't do that you can't use these resources to help your parents

because you pronounced Corbin over those those issues and look at Jesus's

language in verse number 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his

father or mother in other words the Pharisees and scribes were saying no you

can't help them because you did what we said about the Corbin thing you said the

Corbin thing you're stuck that's coming to us buddy you can't help your parents and

Jesus says what you're doing is you're rejecting God's law and preventing people

from being obedient to God in order that they would be obedient to you it's not

just that you've elevated your tradition to the position of Scripture you've

actually made your tradition greater than Scripture it's an idol it's an idol and you

have made yourselves little gods that determine who is right and who is wrong

who will live and who will die there's a second reason somebody may do this

D.W. Manson said that this this would have been a regular practice that a Pharisee

perhaps might would decide you know I've got this thing against my parents I know

that they're getting up in age and I don't want to have to give my stuff to

them because they they were rude to me about whatever whatever happens and they

say okay I'm gonna pronounce Corbin over my stuff and it's not so much in

order that I can give it to God I just want to keep it away from them so there's two

things happening here but it all boils down to the same thing Jesus is saying

you're breaking God's law to do your own thing and so do you see the hypocrisy in

all of this they claim to love God they came to want to claim to want to keep his

law but in reality they were idolaters Jesus said many such things you do they

were actively engaged in this in a multitude of ways and it's no different

than the fundamentalist that emphasizes their rules over grace it's no different

than the Roman Catholic that insists on the church's authorities and traditions

it's no different than the church of Christ congregation that preaches baptism as a

means of salvation they all deny the truth of God's word while trying to

maintain an external veneer of holiness and loyalty to God am I making sense you

understand let me finish it this way

acceptance with God is found in the person and work of Christ not in obedience to

religious ideas and regulations listen please hear me

your ability to conform to God's rules for that matter your ability to conform to God's rules

is not enough for you to be accepted by God

because you can't do it it's not possible

our acceptance with God is on the basis of the person and work of Christ because he did it

he did it he fulfilled the law perfectly God's law and in fulfilling it perfectly he dies on a cross

in order to absorb the wrath of God on our behalf and we keep coming back to this passage so much

recently and when we go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 or 1st Corinthians chapter 5 and it says he

made him to be sin who knew no sin that in him we might have the righteousness of God

Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law because we can't perfectly fulfill the law we will never be accepted

by God based on how good we are you can't you'll never be good enough his his standard is perfection

absolute perfection and even if you do pretty good you'll never reach that standard but Jesus did reach

that standard why because he's not just a man he is God in the flesh and he lived a sinless life and so

when he died on that cross he died not because he deserved punishment for sin he died in your place

literally in the place of sinners he absorbed God's wrath and in return there's this imputation

that takes place where our sins and the judgment against them is imputed onto him on the cross and

then his perfect righteousness is then imputed onto me who is undeserving of any grace of God

that's where your acceptance comes from it doesn't matter if you wash your hands don't wash your hands

hands before lunch it doesn't matter it doesn't matter wear pants I don't care eat cookie cake maybe

eat cookie cake

eat all the sheet cake you want it won't matter it won't matter if you don't know Christ if you don't

know Christ it doesn't matter acceptance with God is on the basis of who he is not on the basis of who

you are because at the end of the day you're nobody and neither am I

thanks Abby

remember Romans 10 what is it that I'm supposed to believe in all of this what is it that I'm

supposed to believe in order to receive this salvation because salvation is not something you

earn by doing it's something you receive by believing you believe that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God

believe that his death on the cross was a sufficient atonement for your sin

that he rose from the dead to prove his power to give you life and that he is the Lord of all

to whom we should lovingly submit and serve and remember Romans 10 if you confess with your mouth

that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved

for with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved

and one final point of application as Christians we struggle with how to govern our behavior and

practice we do this a lot it's it's easy to blur the lines isn't it we all struggle with this

Alistair Begg you know I listen to him a lot and he said something in preaching on this passage that I

found helpful for me and it was this that which is in conflict with the Bible

or or not in conflict with the Bible nor commanded by the Bible may be permissible provided

it's not enforced upon people as essential and particularly essential to acceptance with God

and we need to be careful that in developing our traditions we never diminish the sole authority of the Bible or the

extraordinary sovereign grace of God we're the beneficiaries of that grace why in the world would we ever again bind ourselves or anyone else to the bondage of the law in Christ we are made free from that not to disobey it but to actually finally truly genuinely obey it

in Christ

sometimes even in our evangelism we have all the things right for salvation and then once somebody gets saved we have this way of strapping on the bondage of Phariseeism to them all over again why would we do that

don't don't diminish the grace of God

don't diminish the authority of the word

have the highest possible view of God's word you can

and be the greatest proponent of God's grace

that anyone in your family or in your place of work has ever seen

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