Luke, The Orderly Account of Truth - Red Light, Green Light - Luke 16:14-18

Okay, let's grab our bibles because we are going to

be jumping back into our series called Luke The Orderly

Account of Truth. If you don't have a Bible, we

have some of the resource desk, please grab it.

We would love for you to have a Bible.

But we're going verse by versus the whole book of Luke,

and we are learning about the life and ministry of Jesus,

all from a guy who investigated everything. Luke is telling Theophilis,

I want you to know with certainty the truth about

who Jesus is. That's why we're going through other than

just liking going through books of the Bible and the Gospel,

that's also why we picked Luke is to see this

investigated account of truth. And last week Pastor Jordan took

us through Jesus teaching on stewardship. If you guys, remember

that it was the parable of the dishonest manager, right,

the manager who was dishonest with his master's possessions and

was wasting them, and so he got fired, and what

he did he went and was more dishonest in what

he did. He was shrewd, right, And that parable Jesus

was telling us that faithful. Those who are faithful and

little will be faithful and much. But also those who

are dishonest and little, they're gonna be dishonest in much.

And I just say, the amount just magnifies the type

of person you are, the amount that we're Steward's over.

Is that amount just going to magnify the kind of

person or the type of person that we are. But

Jesus' main argument was in verse thirteen when he says,

you can't serve two masters. You can't serve God and money. Right,

you guys, remember that you can't serve God and money.

And even though he was saying all this, he turned

and was saying this parable to the disciples. The Pharisees

were still around and heard this. They were listening in

on jesus conversation with the disciples.

And that brings us to our text today.

So we're gonna be in chapter in Luke chapter sixteen,

versus fourteen through eighteen. It's Luke chapter sixteen, versus fourteen

through eighteen. And while you guys are turning there, I

just want to say a couple of things. One, it's

only five verses, So we're gonna be out of here.

In no time, right, don't hold your breath. There's a

lot in these five verses. Plus when I was studying

it this week, it's a little confusing, like, Okay, Jesus,

what do you mean by what you're saying in all

of this?

Like what what point are you trying to get across?

And so it took a lot of digging in there,

and there is some heavy stuff that we're going to

talk about today.

So when we get there, just take a deep breath.

We're gonna make it through.

But it's just five verses, five short verses, and a

lot is said. But there is a very helpful contextual

hint that I want us to remember when we read.

And this is that contextual hint. There's only one way

into the Kingdom of God. There's only one way into

the Kingdom of God. It's God's kingdom, right, it's the

name the Kingdom of God. It's his kingdom, right. So

he gets to decide how people get into it, just

as much as when you create something, you get to

decide how that creation is used. I have this conversation

about our youngest is really into legos, and so he

builds stuff all the time, and he gets to decide

what his creation was. He builds something, he's like, Dad,

look at this. It's like, Oh, that's such a that's

a cool boat. And he's like, it's not a boat,

it's a plane. And I was like, it doesn't have

any wings and it's on water because you put it

on the blue thing. And he's like, it's a plane.

He's the one who created it. He gets to decide

what it is and what it's used for. Right God's kingdom.

He gets to decide how you get into it. So

I want you to keep this statement in mind while

we're reading our text today. There's only one way into

the Kingdom of God. Okay, you guys there, Luke sixteen

fourteen through eighteen Awesome. We're gonna read our text and

then we're gonna pray. So start in verse fourteen. The Pharisees,

who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and

they ridiculed him. And he said to them, you are

those who justify yourself before men.

But God knows your hearts, for.

What is exalted among men is an abomination in the

sight of God. The Law and the prophets were until John.

Since then, the good news of the Kingdom of God

has preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But

it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away

than for one dot of the law to become void.

Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery,

and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband

commits adultery. Let's pray, God, we take a moment here

and clear our minds of any distractions. We focus solely

on you and your word today, because you have a

word for us. So God, I just pray that you

give us ears to hear what that message is. The

things that are confusing, God, make them clear to us.

The things that are challenging, give us a heart to

receive and rise to the occasion. The things that are

in comforting, let them comfort our pains and our sorrows.

But God, let your word do its work in us today.

We're ready for it and excited for it. And so God,

we thank you for this moment. And again, please give

us ears to hear your message today. And Jesus name,

everybody said Amen. Who remembers recess in school when you're kid? Right?

My homeschool friends like recesses all the time. No.

If you're in school, there's this thing called recess, right,

you get it three times a day. But who remembers

the uh it was like the best part of the day,

next to.

Lunch, wasn't it.

Right?

Lunch is number one, Recess is number two?

But who remembers the games you used to play outside

at recess when you're a kid.

There's tons of different games you could play, right.

I wrote down a few lists of them here that

I used to play. And red Rover, red Rover, you

guys remember that one. I was hoping Clarence was here

because I was gonna say, red Rover, red Rover, send

Clarence right over. Clarence is a giant human being. And

that's and when they're running out, you're holding friends of

your you're holding hands with your friends and just kind

of close your eyes and turn your head and hope

they don't break your wrists when they run through it.

It's red Rover, red Rover. What about duck duck goose.

That's a classic duck duck duck goose. And you try

to run around and sit down before they tag you

or you're out. The game is always not to get out, right,

That's the purpose of all these games? What about Simon

says my favorite? We're all lining up in person. Who's

Simon says? Simon says, do a backflip, and then everyone

broke their collarbones trying to do a backflip, landing on

their head. Simon says, hopscotch, What are the rules?

Does anybody know?

Is? I thought there was like something you throw out

there and it lands a rock and then you have

to like do the one foot two foot thing.

Okay, so there are rules.

We just saw him drawn on the ground and just

try to do tricks while we're doing That's what our

hopscotch was.

What about Freeze Tag? That was one of my favorites.

You guys remember a freeze tag solid game? Yeah? Well,

I also just like to run around. But the one

I really.

Want to talk about, I'm forgive me the whole list

is red light green light. Squid game fans, red light

green light. Okay, so green light means run, red light

means stop. You have one person who's it stands at

the front and they'll turn their back to you and

say green light, and you're trying to run all the

way to them, and when they turn around and say,

red light, you have to stop and freeze. They see

you moving, you're out right. Pretty simple, pretty simple rules

for red light green light. But the whole concept this

is kind of like the whole concept of red light

green light is there is a time to run and

there is a time to stop, whereas I say, a

time to strive and a time to rest. Okay, there's

a time to run and a time to stop. You

don't run on the red light because then your scene

is moving and you get kicked out, just as much

as you don't stop on the green light, because then

you don't progress towards the person. You don't get to

the finish line. It's not your ever, your turn to

be it right. You have to know which action to

do at the right time. Now, what does this have

to do with our texts today? I'm really glad you asked.

Do you remember what I told you to keep in mind?

Just a minute go, can we put that back on

the screen. Remember what I told you to keep this

in mind? So everyone say it out loud, you try

to do it all together. Good job, Jerry, But he

gus it great, that's perfect. If this is true, and

it is true, this is true, so if this is true,

then we'd better find out what that one way is

so that we don't start running in the wrong direction,

or we don't start running in the wrong way, or

just like red light green Light, that we don't start

running at the wrong time. This is very important for

us to know, because we don't want to be running

for the wrong reason. And the Pharisees couldn't figure out

when to run or when to rest, or what to

run after, or what to rest in. And they I

say that they tried to change the rules of red

Light green Light. They tried to change the rules so

they could run whenever they wanted to, and they tried

to win the game by playing according to the wrong rules.

They were trying to get into the Kingdom of God

in the wrong way or their own way.

And before we get I put haughty in my notes.

But as Pastor Jordan looked at it, He's like, you

should say superior. And I was like, dude, that's like

the perfect word to use before we start feeling superre

to the Pharisees, we miss it too.

Sometimes we miss it too.

There are times when we rest or we stop running

at the wrong times, and there are times when I

think that we sprint and we strive after the wrong things.

But God created the game of life and he set

the rules, right, He set the rules. He tells us

when we should sprint, and he tells us when we

should stop. He tells us what to strive after, and

he tells us what to rest in. And that's really

what I want us to see today in this text.

And that's why I call the.

Message red light green Light. It's just silly, it's fun.

But my hope is that this title will help you

think back on there is a time to stop and rest,

and there's a time to sprint or strive. There's a

time to go and a time to stop. Red means stop,

Green means go, Yellow means go really really fast, Just kidding.

There is a time to stop and rest. There is

a time to strive and sprint. So let's break this down.

Let's go back to the first couple verses verses fourteen

and fifteen, and then starts off with the Pharisees.

He guys, remember who the Pharisees are. They're the religious

leaders of the day.

They're the ones that everyone actually would strive to be like.

They're the ones who are the experts in the law.

They knew everything about God's law, or so they thought.

That's what the Pharisees are. And Luke straight out, straight

up comes out and says they were lovers of money.

He tells you who they are. And that reminded me

of what Paul said to Timothy and two Timothy chapter three,

he talks about the last days what people will be like,

and he said that they will be lovers of self,

they will be lovers of money. They will have the

appearance of godliness, but deny its power. Now that sounds

like the Pharisees, doesn't it. In these last days there

will be people who will have the appearance of godliness.

What were they doing? They were appearing godly before.

Others, Pharises who were lovers of money. They heard all

these things, Okay, they heard because they were near Jesus

when he was speaking to the disciples, right, and all

these things. It's just referring to what Pastor Jordan preached

on last week, which is you can't serve God and money.

And when they heard these things, they ridiculed him. They

ridiculed Jesus.

They would turn their nose up at them, or that

word also means to sneer, scoff at them. Who is Jesus, guy,

think he is. They ridiculed Jesus after hearing his teaching

on stewardship. It's teaching about God and money. And he

said to them, Jesus said to them, you, he's talking

to the pharisees. You pharisees are those who justify yourself

before men.

But God knows your hearts.

They justify themselves before men their self righteous justification by works.

That's what they were doing, appearing self righteous or appearing

justified before men by their own self righteous works. But

God knows your heart. You can't fool God. You can't

hide from God. He's omniscient. He knows everything. He's everywhere.

You can't fool God because he sees the heart. And

then Jesus says, for what is exalted among men is

an abomination in the side of God. And I want

to stop and talk about that for a minute. This

is gonna feel a little bit like a rabbit trail,

but I'm gonna pull it back together to the main

point as we get through it. But what is exalted

among men is an abomination in the side of God.

And what kind of stuff does the word excuse me?

The world exalt today? Like, what does the world tell

you to chase after or strive after? Fame is definitely

one of them. I said, riches and wealth. Wealth was

the first one. Get that money, live the good life?

Right?

Works so hard? Get the money? How happiness and pleasure

as like an end goal? Like we should always strive

after our own happiness? What makes us most happy? Follow

your heart? It's terrible advice. How about just get rid

of the negative energy. I don't need that energy around me. Right,

that's what the world's gonna tell you to strive after.

We're about power and authority over others, right, put the reverse,

freedom from any authority at all. Be your own boss.

No one can tell you what to do. What about

when a cop pulse you're over? I mean maybe this

is just my YouTube feed, but it's like when you

get pulled over by the cop. You don't have to

do what he says, you have to roll your window down,

just say this. It's this weird ploy to not be

under the authority of somebody else. Be a strong, independent woman.

You don't need no man. I thought I was gonna

get in trouble for saying that. But fellas, we're not

off the hook either, right. We hear stuff like you're

a king, don't let and mess with your flow, then

let a woman tie you down. It's all about me

and mine. That's what the world's telling me to chase after.

What else does the world exalt and celebrate? What about

sex and promiscuity? I say, we live in the only

fans generation. It is literally online prostitution, and it's celebrated

and encouraged. Lack of commitment. Why get married, Let's just

move in together, do all of our stuff together, and

play house.

That's what the world pushes today.

I'm just gonna keep my options open, you know, leave

the door crack so I have an escape route. The

world celebrates what God sees as an abomination. It's an

abomination in the sight of God, but sometimes it sounds

good and right, like love is love. And I might

get in trouble for saying some of this, but I

gotta speak the truth. The world will redefine things that

God has already defined, or they will try to things

like pretending that fetus doesn't mean a human child or

tiny human in the fetal stage of development. And our

world will literally exalt and at times even celebrate the

murder of preborn children. And what that is is just

elevating self interest and my own what's the word like,

I want my life to be convenient and I won't

give up my convenience for the sake of someone else.

God sees this as an abomination. So we're talking about

just what the world exalts. But let's get back to

the context of what the text is actually talking about,

what Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. So what were

they exalting were what in What were they exalting that is,

in the sight of God, an abomination? What were they

elevating or striving after? And most often it was a

righteousness by works of law. But here's the kicker. It

was righteousness by the works of what they considered God's law,

the law that they had adjusted or changed their own

rules that they had set. Is these man made laws.

You weren't righteous in their eyes if you didn't follow

their laws. And if you weren't righteous in their eyes,

they would say you weren't righteous in God's eyes.

They set the standard.

Let's they didn't create life, they didn't create this covenant

between God. They didn't create any of this, So who

were they to step up and say, I'm setting the standard. No,

they have to turn to God. But look hear it

when we hear about what these Pharisees were doing. Let's

look at Matthew chapter twenty three and read the first

few verses of that chapter. Then Jesus said to the

crowds and to his disciples, the scribes in the Pharisees

sit on Moses' seat. So do and observe whatever they

tell you, but not the works they do. For they

preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens

hard to bear, and they lay them on people's shoulders,

but they themselves are not willing to move them with

their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen

by others. For they make their philacteries broad and their

fringes long. That's like a big jew flex right there.

Philactery is broad, and their fringes long. Flactories the box

that held the scriptures in it, and the bigger the box,

you know, the holier you are.

Fringes. They had tassels on everything. It was great.

And they love the places of honor, and at feasts

and the best seats in the synagogues, and greetings in

the marketplaces, and being called rabbi by others.

That's just Matthew twenty three.

The other spot I want to look at, and this

is going to get a little more specific to what

we're talking about, is Matthew fifteen. Then Pharisees and scribes

came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, why do your

disciples break the traditions of the elders?

For they do not wash their hands when they eat?

And I love this, Jesus answers them, And why do

you break the commandments of God for the sake of

your tradition? For God commanded honor your father and your mother,

And whoever reviles father and mother must surely die.

But you say, if.

Anyone tells his father or his mother what you would

have gained from me is given to God. He need

not honor his father. So for the sake of your tradition,

you have made void the word of God. The hypocrites. Well,

did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said this? People

honors me with their lips. They say the right things,

but their heart is far from me. In vain do

they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. The Pharisees wanted

the praise of men. They wanted to be recognized in

front of people. The reward they sought after was the

places of honor among them, and the way they went

about getting that was by tying heavy burdens on others.

By way of their own laws. They exalted what God

did not exalt. They didn't love God. God love money.

They love theirselves. They served money their green light. What

they would run after was a righteousness by works of

their own law, and oftentimes was to get power and

money and influence. They sought to be justified before men,

which left them unjustified before God. You can't change the

rules of a game you didn't create. You can't change

the rules of a game you didn't create. God created

this world and everything in it. He set the design

for how it all works. It's his kingdom, and he

decides how people get in, and it's not by being

justified before men, which leads.

Us to, I think, a rather obvious question.

And I mean I say rather obvious because I felt

the conviction when I was reading this, But it's this

question where do I seek justification before men over justification

before God? Like? Where do I seek justification before men

over justification before God? Where do I seek the approval

of men rather than the approval of God? Are there

areas in my life where I'm more concerned with what

man thinks of me than what God thinks? And I

had like a real examples. You know us guys, when

the dudes are hanging out with the dudes and crude

or crass jokes start coming up because we get a

group of dudes together. Usually this is somewhere in the vicinity.

Do we laugh and join in so that we don't

look like the good Christian boy? About when you got

the group of ladies? I'm just picking like some stereotypical things.

The group of ladies come together and they start slandering

or gossiping about someone. Do you join in and use

your words to tear another person down behind their back?

At work?

Do you cuss like a sailor because that's just how

everyone talks. Are you afraid to speak the truth of

who God is before others because of what they will.

Think of you?

I mean, these are good self reflective questions, do you

care more about what man thinks than what God thinks

about you. I can't be seen as in the wrong,

even if it means omitting the full truth so that

I look better. That's lying, omitting the full truth so

that I look better. And God says, when we're lying,

we're speaking the devil's native language, because he is a deceiver.

He is a liar, and he has been since the beginning.

God sees that he knows our hearts any high justice

people in here, I thank you for the few that

admitted it. People have to know the truth about the

other persons. They know that I wasn't wrong. I've felt

that one I'm totally guilty of that. They have to

know what that person did or said, or felt, or

their motives, so they know that what I did wasn't

the wrong thing. They did the wrong thing, because it

matters how I look. Jesus himself, when the people were

hurling insults and false accusations at him, he didn't even

defend himself.

Like a sheep for the slaughter or led to the slaughters.

Is the verse. He didn't even open his mouth, said nothing.

And there is no one more innocent and deserving of

being defended than Jesus, and he didn't say a word.

Why does that matter what man thinks? No, it matters

what God thinks. We're moving from this deep seated concern

for the approval of men and switching over to the

one whose approval actually matters. Whose approval matters them is

the approval of God that he looks at says, you

nailed it, great job. It doesn't matter what people think,

it matters what God thinks. Maybe no, those examples are you?

Maybe there's me. I think some of us deal with

some of those at least a little bit.

But what about the other side of the point here

that Jesus is making often, which is self righteousness? Are

there areas where we act like the Pharisees in front

of others, will do the right thing, But when we're

by ourselves it's another story. We only do the right

things to be seen by other people. When like the

Pharisees who stood up in the public places to say

these really long prayers, to seem to appear wholly in

front of people, yet never going into their room and

shutting the door and praying to the Father in secret,

are we only a Christian when people are watching. I'm

not trying to beat you guys up and beating myself up.

And it's great, and you.

Guys just get a watch.

But when the Lord reveals these moments to us, we

should be grateful for them, as painful as they are.

I call him Jesus Whippins.

We get Jesus whipins, and he reminds us what it

is to be a Christian, to be a follower of him,

and so it should break our hearts. We should feel

contrition over these things, but that should lead us to repent,

to repent from the sinful thing we've been doing, which

is seeking the approval of man and turning back to

him and seeking justification and approval from him. Because there's

only one way into the Kingdom of God, and a

self righteous justification before men. Isn't it in our green

light to run? That isn't what we strive after. So

the Pharisees were striving after. Let's keep moving the next

couple verses. This is where I.

Got a little confused.

When I was studying personally, I was like, what are

you talking about here? God, what are you trying to

say here? It gets a little weird. I think by

the end we'll feel pretty clear about it. Verse sixteen

says the law and the prophets, and a way to

understand that is the whole Old Testament. The law and

the prophets were until John. What that means is that

John is included in the Old Testament prophets because we

see John in the Book of Luke, which is in

the New Testament, right, still part of the Old Testament prophets.

So the law and the prophets were until John. Since then,

so now looking back all the way through John, the

good news of the Kingdom of God is preached. And

we stop on that word good news. We say it

all the time. That's the word gospel means good news.

Right.

And I was looking back at Luke chapter two, verse

verses eight through eleven. I didn't put this on the screen,

but the good news that was proclaimed was a Savior

is born Christ, the Lord Jesus is here. That's the

good news. The good news is the King of the

Kingdom of God is here. The Savior is born. That's

the good news that's been of the Kingdom of God,

that's been preached ever since the Old Testament, all the

way until John. And then the verse says, and everyone

forces his way into it. And I was like, what

does that mean? So you start digging into like what

are these the root words and what they break down into,

and so the word it obviously he's talking about the

Kingdom of God, people forcing their way into it. So

understanding this is to get a share in the Kingdom

of God by the utmost earnestness and effort. That actually

sounds kind of good, like we're striving and fighting to

get into the Kingdom of God.

But then I started thinking about it.

Verse seventeen starts with the word but so there's a

correction helping us on standing like, well, maybe something's not

being done in the right way. Even though it was

earnest and with much effort, maybe it wasn't done the

right way. And I think of like this, everyone forces

his way into it. It's like pushing your way through

a crowd. We were talking about concerts before service, and

you think about the mashpit, right, I want to get

to the front. I want to see this band, it's

my favorite band. You're just pushing your way through. Or

think about Black Friday. Remember that was like a thing

you'd get up at, you know, two in the morning

and you go stand in line at Best Buy because

there's a TV for eighty percent off or something like that.

But people were legit getting trampled on, like they were

fighting and striving for something. And this is the kind

of verbiage being used for the people who are forcing

his way into the.

Kingdom of Heaven.

And Jesus says, but it is easier for heaven and

earth to pass away, which is impossible unless God does that.

So this impossible thing is easier, then for one dot

of the law to become void or no longer be valid.

God's law isn't going anywhere. It's not going anywhere. It's

here to stay. Not a single not even a single

dot will fail or that word void also means to

lose authority or no longer have force. The good news

of Jesus showing up is not that he abolished the law.

The good news is that Jesus came and fulfilled it.

He fulfilled the law. So God's Law is still part

of the equation for getting into the Kingdom of God,

and we need to figure out what that part of

the equation is, right, And I think that Paul is

very helpful in letting us understand one of the main

purposes of the law. And when he talks about it

in Romans three and he says, for by works of

the law, no human being will be justified in his sight,

since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Through the law comes knowledge of sin.

And also in Roman sevent he says, yet if I

had if it had not been for the law, I

would not have known sin, for I would not have

known what it is to covet if the law had

not said you shall not covet. So law brings knowledge

of our sin, helps us understand what sin is. It

tells us that there's something broken in us, something that

actually needs to be fixed. There's a problem here, and

we wouldn't have known that if we didn't have the

law to look at. But this law that brings the

knowledge of sin, the law that shows us how much

we've missed the mark, Because when you really look at

God's standard for humanity, we missed the mark a lot.

Same law that points out all the ways that we

fail to meet God's perfect standard, that shows us that

we stand condemned before a holy God. That law, Jesus

perfectly fulfilled it. He perfectly fulfilled that law. I mean,

that's pretty awesome, but that's not even the good news

part yet, that's just part of the good news. The

good news is that Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law and

was sinless, and him being sinless qualifies him to be

the perfect spotless sacrifice that fully satisfies God, so fully

satisfies God's wrath. Do sin, and everyone who believes in

Jesus that sacrifice.

Counts for them.

Amen, we are forgiven. If we believe, we receive forgiveness.

So now we finally found the answer how we're justified

before God, or how we receive justification before God, how

we're made right before Him. It's faith in Jesus and

his death on the cross for sin. We believe that.

Now the Pharisees they had the law and the prophets,

which spoke of and prophesied about the good news of

the Kingdom of God. It did and Romans three twenty one,

so it's back to you should read all of Romans

super helpful. But Romans three twenty one says, but now

the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.

That mean it's made visible.

Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it,

the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for

all who believe. So we see that the law and

the prophets are already bearing witness to what God's plan was,

and it always had. And the Pharisees had this, the

law and the prophets. They prophesied about God's Messiah, his

anointed one. And this is gonna be really important when

we go through next week's text, So not that we're

going to talk about today, but just be ready for it.

They bore witness to how you enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Yet the Pharisees still try to force their way into

the kingdom the wrong way by some other means. But

Jesus is saying them, you can't. You can't get in

by some other way. There's one way into the Kingdom

of God, and that ain't it. The law of God

that you butchered to fit your own wants doesn't negate

the actual law of God. So Jesus is saying, here,

according to God's law, which did not go anywhere, it's

still here. The Pharisees are still condemned, but according to law,

all stand condemned because all have sinned, so it's not

just the Pharisees. That's us too, right, And first John

One says, if you claim to be without sin, you're

a liar. Actually, I think it goes further and says,

you're calling God a liar if you say you're without sin.

We all have sin. We're all at the same starting point.

You can't go around God's law and get into the

Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God. You try

to force your way in all you want, but apart

from looking at God's law, seeing your sinful condition that

is in need of a savior, and turning to Jesus

for forgiveness, you won't get into the Kingdom of God.

That's what it takes to actually see your sinful condition

when you look at God's law. That's why God's law

isn't going anywhere. It's showing us our sinful condition. The

Pharisees have divorced themselves from God's covenant and committed adultery

against him. They've rejected his way and tried to make

their own way. And I say it that way because

that leads us into our last verse for today, verse eighteen.

Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.

And he who marries a woman divorced from her husband

commits adultery. Well, what's adultery. Adultery is sleeping with someone

who is in a covenant with someone else. Either you're

in a covenant with someone and you go outside that

covenant and sleep with someone else, or you are not

in a covenant and you sleep with someone else who

is in a covenant. Adultery. If two people are not

in a covenant with anybody and they sleep together, still

fornication still sin bad.

Don't do it?

So you yeah, different sin, still a sin, nonetheless, right,

So that's just declear what adultery is.

And I believe that Jesus.

Is using this, this this marriage divorce an adultery example

as an illustration for the point he's trying to make,

because he's trying to make this point about God's law

and the pharisees rejection of it. But even aside from that,

since it is in the text, I didn't want to

take a moment just talk about God's view on the

topic of marriage. Because Jesus is saying that it is

possible to commit adultery with a person you married, But

how is that possible? How is it possible to marry

someone and be committing adultery? And the only way that

is possible if the person that you're marrying is still

in a covenant with somebody else, or that you are

still in a covenant with somebody else. And I do

want to clear I kind of hand wrote this in

my notes. I want to clear it out that it's

not if you think you're in a commitment or a

covenant with somebody, it's what God views as as what

actually matters is he viewed that you're still in a covenant.

And he has a very very high view of marriage.

He says, what he has joined together, let no man separate.

So God's intention for marriage is a forever commitment between

two people before him, where two people become one flesh.

And I call this the I'm just calling it the

paper example. I brought my nice piece of paper here.

What's the only way to make something has become one

into two?

To do that? Can you put this back together for me?

Please?

Good luck to tear it apart.

The things that God has joined is not it's two

flesh has become one. This is not a pleasant process. No,

it's nothing but pain. And anyone who's experienced divorce of

separation knows this all too well. And someone's like, I'm

finally free of this evil person. The damage doesn't isn't

just between there, It's all over the place. And I

need to pause here for a moment, say, there's forgiveness

for sin in Christ Jesus, no matter what it is.

So I'm just gonna I'm gonna let that sit there,

take it, hold on to it, and if we need

to talk after, talk with me after one of the pastors.

But this is how God feels about marriage, how serious

he is the forever commitment and there. But there are

a few exceptions that I want to talk through from

scripture that God gives for terminating a forever covenant, and

you'll find them in Matthew five, Matthew nineteen and one

Corinthians seven, and they are The first one is sexual immorality,

specifically to find his illicit sexual intercourse, specifically adultery. Okay,

so it's outside of your covenant. The second exception it

would be abandonment by a non believing spouse. So if

you are a believer married to a non believer and

that believer decides to abandon the covenant, then, according to God,

he says you are removed from that that covenant and

you're free to remarry again. There are some verses in

here that make me feel pretty confident saying that if

you're going to remarry, you must remarry a believer. Also

be really dumb for you to not remarry a believer,

just throwing that out there. And then the third exception

would be death. So if your spouse dies, the covenant's resolved,

I guess for lack of better tern But outside of

those reason, outside those three reasons, God still views you

as in a covenant relationship with the person you initially

He created the covenant with, which means if you were

to go outside of that, that's adultery, divorcing them, even

in your eyes for any other reason. Even though in

your eyes you see it as divorced, and that even

the state may say you're divorced, God still views that

as adultery, and I do want to The last thing

I want to kind of say about this whole topic

is that even though there are these few valid reasons,

I don't see anywhere that divorce is ever required or

even encouraged. I think the hope in all these situations

were repentance, restoration, and healing would be all of them. Now,

even though that is the case, I just I need

to kind of put it all out there that there

are those exceptions that God gives in scripture, but this

is how serious God is about marriage. He's serious, And

I think the reason it's so important for us to

know that right now in relation to our text is

because Jesus just uses it as an example for how

serious God is about as covenant with his people, the

one that Jesus often called an adulterous generation. I think

it's important for us to see how serious God is

about marriage because he's bringing up the example of this

breaking of a covenant and calling it adultery. If the

Pharisees were rejecting this covenant that God made with him,

they've divorced God's law and tried to marry another law.

As God's people, they've committed adultery against them. No matter

what they try, They're still in a covenant with God,

an everlasting covenant.

And Duncan, if.

You want to come up and or who all the

instruments are coming up, Let's play musical instruments.

Hey, you want to come play? You want to play?

Just kidding? So what does all this have to do

with us?

And before we get specifically that, I'm gonna do a

really quick short summary. So the summary is, in these

five short verses, the Pharisees have ridiculed Jesus because they

didn't like what he was teaching about money and serving God.

Jesus rebuked them for justifying themselves before men and exalting

what God sees as an abomination. Then Jesus tells them

that the way into the Kingdom of God was in

the law the prophets in what John was speaking and

is preached even now. But people still try to force

their way in. But God's law isn't going anywhere. It's

still part of the equation, just like an illegitimate divorce.

Eu Pharisees have rejected God's covenant and his law, committing

adultery against him. It's a pretty quick summary, right, It's

our five verses right there. So now what do we

do with this? What can we learn? What should we feel?

And then what should we do? I got this written

on my whiteboard in the office, and every time I

read scripture I'm asking, Okay, what am I supposed to learn?

What do I need to know? What am I supposed

to feel about that? Or how am I supposed to

feel about it? Now? What am I supposed to do

about that? I think it's three good questions to ask

as we're reading through scripture and the message is titled light,

green light. What were the Pharisees resting in? And what

were they striving for? What was their red light? And

I think their red light is they would rest in

their comfort and riches they enjoyed, sitting at the places

of honor above the other people, and what they were

striving for?

What their green light was?

They're trying to force their way into the Kingdom of

God the wrong way.

They saw their green light as going around the law.

Their green light.

What they strove after was to be justified before men,

and they were wrong. Their red light was wrong and

their green light was wrong. So now I ask you,

and I asked myself, what's our red light?

What's our green light?

If God says there is only one way into the

Kingdom of God, what are we resting in and what

are we striving for?

And what I think we should do?

I put it this way, to rest in faith and

strive in obedience, to rest in faith and strive in obedience.

When it comes to our salvation, we rest in our faith.

We rest in that. There's no striving to gain your

salvation none, There's nothing you could do to earn it.

There's no way to work your way into Heaven or

the Kingdom of God. That's what we're talking about. There's

no way to work your way into there.

It's kind of a whole point of Jesus rebuke in

the Pharisees.

For right now, and I want us to look at

Ephesians chapter two and read these first ten verses. And

you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which

you once walked, following the course of this world, following

the prince of the power of the air, the spirit

that is now at work in the sons of disobedience,

among whom we all once lived in the passion of

our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and

the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like

the rest of mankind. That's a sobering understanding of our

condition before Christ. And every single one of us was

a part of that verse four starts with some sweet words.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great

love with which He loved us, even when we were

dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace, you have been saved and raised us up

with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places,

in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He

might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness

toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing, is the guilt

gift of God, not a result of works, so that

no one may boast, for we are His workmanship, created

in Christ Jesus, for good works which God prepared in

advance for us to do.

So walk in them. That's how the rest of that

verse goes right.

Yeah, that we should walk in them. We've been saved

by grace. That's the free and undeserved gift of God

through faith, which is belief and trust in Jesus. And

since that's the case, our red light what we're supposed

to stop and rest in is in our faith. We

stop and rest in our faith. You can't fight and

strive for something you can't receive by works.

Did I say that right? Yeah?

Don't fight and strive for something you can't receive by works.

It's impossible. So that's our red light. But what's our

green light? What our we're supposed to strive for? Like,

what are we supposed to be running after and chasing

and attempting to do? Let's put that main point back

on there. Rest and faith, but strive in obedience. We're

striving in obedience. That's what we should be striving for.

Don't strive to be saved, strive to be holy because.

We are saved. It's because we are saved.

And it's just like in the end of the text

and Ephesians, we just read verse ten said, for we

are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. Can we just

put it up there because I'm reading it from here

and I want us to see it wherever Verse ten

was for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus.

For what whoa So in Christ Jesus we were created

four good works, which God prepared in advance or beforehand,

that we should walk in them.

We've been saved two good works, not by good works.

Two and four not only that God prepared those good

works beforehand that we should walk in them. And I

like to if I want to feel special before the Lord.

These are some of the verses I read because I'm like,

whoa first off, okay, wretched center that I am. God

saved me. He took me out of darkness, put me

to light. He created me and saved me. And I

was terrible, but just saving somebody. And the image that

comes to mind is something a pastor said a long

time ago. He's like a lot of us viewed salvation

as I was locked up in a cage and God

came to just unlock the cage and open the door

and walked away. That's not salvation because now you're broke

and homeless. No, he opened the cage, took you out

of the prison, and threw you in the palace. That's

the full transition of salvation. We're freed from our sin

and death and we are a child of the most

Hygh who is royal.

We live in the palace.

Yes, And the intentionality of planning good works for me

to do ahead of time for some reason, that makes

me feel so special because there was like he had

a reason.

He saved me. Wasn't saving me just for whatever he knows?

I got a job for you.

I saved you to do. This gives me a purpose,

something to chase. Now, the overar arching purpose over all

things is we are creative. Our chief end is to

glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And one of the

ways I'm gonna do that is I'm going to walk

in obedience, doing the good works that He called me

to do beforehand, that He prepared in advance for me

to do. Those who have put faith in Jesus are

a new creation, and God tells his new creations how

we should live. So if you have been striving for

your salvation or trying to work your way into the

Kingdom of.

God, I have one thing to say.

To you, red light, stop it. Stop striving to get

into the Kingdom of God. You can't work your way

in there. Be free of the struggle. Stop striving so

God will accept you. If you've put faith in Jesus,

that's a mark that He already did accept you because

He gave you the faith to respond.

He saved you.

Rest in the free gift of faith that He's given

you according to his immeasurable grace. And if you don't

know if you're saved, just turn up with faith in him.

He's literally calling to you right now as we're speaking

these words for those of you who are already enjoying

this amazing blessing of salvation, those who are resting knowing

that God has forgiven you of all of your sins, past, present,

in future. Says he remembers our sins no more as

far as the east is from the west. If you

are resting in that beautiful, amazing truth green light, it's

time to get to work. It's not a light a

fire under our butts. I literally put that in my notes.

It's time to get to work and strive to obey

Him in all things.

Strive to be holy as He is holy.

We need to get serious about following and obeying the

Lord like, actually take it seriously, like we believe it.

Belief insights action.

I will say this example forever because I don't have

a better one. You're only sitting in that chair because

you believe it will hold your weight. So our belief

that the chair will hold us is why we chose

to sit down in that chair. Our belief in what

God says, and his truth and what he's called us

to will affect our actions. So if I truly believe

in what he said, I need to get serious about it,

get serious about following and obeying the Lord. We're going

to spend the rest of our lives playing red light

green Light, resting in our faith and striving in our obedience.

But as we're playing this red light green light, I

want you to remember this equation. This last thing I'm

going to say today is this equation.

If we have it? Do we have it? Okay? Sweet?

Faith plus Jesus equals salvation plus works. Almost everybody everyone

struggles with them.

Where do you put works? And a lot of people

try to put it?

Faith plus Jesus plus works equal salvation and that's wrong.

No, there's no works we can do.

So it's faith plus Jesus equals salvation and he has

saved us to good works. We can change or mix

up nothing about this equation or it doesn't work anymore.

Faith plus Jesus equals salvation plus work. So remember that

as we're playing red light green light the rest of

our lives. Amen, you stand on your feet