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welcome to free grace baptist church a few announcements before we begin our worship this morning the first is a reminder that Abigail stair has expressed her desire to be baptized so we can rejoice in the Lord for that and keep her in our prayers as well we have tonight the Lord's Supper observing the lord's supper tonight just a reminder for all those it's the the first of every month so tonight in our 5 p.m. service we will be observing that blessed ordinance of our Lord and lastly calendars are available for the month of june so if you'd like to grab one hard copy before you leave this morning that would be excellent let's turn in our Bibles then to begin our worship this morning if you'll turn with me to Psalm 107 reading of Psalm 107 verses 1 to 9 will be our call to worship this morning Psalm 107 beginning in verse 10 give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his mercy endures forever let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered out of the lands from east and from the west from the north and from the south they wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way they found no city to dwell in hungry and thirsty their soul fainted in them then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their de-stresses and he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city for a dwelling place oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men for he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness amen well let's stand and sing together our first hymn is in your larger Trinity hymnal will stand and sing 32 hymn number 32 together you please be seated we'll have a time of prayer now just a reminder we had a prayer meeting this this morning in the 930 hour we do bring the concerns of the congregation and many things to God in prayer every Wednesday before the Bible study as well every second Lord's Day in the 930 hour the other sundays being those times where we study through the confession of faith so just a reminder while we might not rehearse every concern of yours in the Sunday morning service we are doing that elsewhere and bringing many things before our great God so with that said let us go now to our God in prayer let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you for the fact that we can now gather in the name of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ we would ask now Lord God that you would bless this time we would pray first and foremost that your name would be hallowed within these four walls this morning we pray that this gathered assembly would buy your spirit bring praises and honor you this morning we do pray Lord that the gathered assembly would rejoice in Christ that we would your saints this morning sing your praises truly you are worthy Lord God of all honor and praise and we do pray that you would give that measure of spirit to stir up our hearts this morning that we might bring to you those praises and we do pray that around the world this would as well be the case that your Saints gathered in many places would be would bring praise to you that from the lips of your Saints would come many songs of praise come any prayers and supplications and Thanksgivings and Lord that your word would be proclaimed throughout the world today we do pray that you would empower ministers of the gospel of yours to proclaim with great strength and with great courage and with great confidence the things of Christ Jesus the Lord we do pray that you would strengthen your ministers to not proclaim half a gospel or half a Christ but the true and saving gospel and the true and saving Christ might your pulpits be a flame with righteousness around the world this day that sinners might believe that Saints might be edified and that the triune God might be glory din we do pray God that you would be with those who need prayer for physical things as we prayed for many this morning we do pray again for each and every one generally that you would strengthen your Saints those who are struggling that you attend to their bodies that you would heal them that you would knit together the wounds of the physical man and cause them to know gains in strength we do pray God that in the midst of suffering though that you would come swiftly to them caused them to know that the God of all the earth does right by his Saints and for his own glory and that they might give all praise and all honor to you even in affliction we do pray God that you would be with those who are struggling spiritually that you would lift them up and cause them to rejoice in Christ that you would bring them from out of the dark days of sorrow and despair and cause them rather not to be in sorrow or despair but Lord God to be lifted up to high thoughts of Christ and to have grace daily strength to endure in the midst of any suffering we do pray God that you would cause us as we gather now to be such Saints as rejoice in Christ Jesus the Lord for truly this is what Saints are to do to sing the praises of a redeeming Christ we thank you that you did send him in the fullness of the times born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law and we rejoice in that precious gospel that Christ Jesus came into this world sinners to save and we do pray Lord God that you would cause each and every one of us to rejoice in this we would sing the praises of amazing grace for we know that we have not been saved by deeds of righteousness which we have done but we've been saved by the perfect and complete saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ that our salvation is not of men but it is of the Lord our salvation from first to last midst and throughout is of a triune God who does save without a helper we sing the praises of amazing and victorious grace this morning and we pray that you would help us to endure into to walk throughout each day seeking to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of such a glorious gospel we do pray God that you would be with our brothers and sisters in many lands that are struggling under the the weighty hand of opposition and tyranny and persecution we do pray for our Saints in many nations where this is a daily reality we would ask that you would strengthen them that you it would be with them even now in this very hour that as they hide or as they're jailed or as they're suffering persecution Lord that you would cause them not to despair but in the midst of such affliction that they would look with eyes of faith upon a risen and exalted Christ and know that the king of kings and Lord of lords will ultimately and finally defeat the enemies of the church of christ and we do pray that you would give them much confidence in their triune God and that you would give them daily strength to endure the daily strength to remain steadfast in the things of our Blessed Christ we do pray that you would deal with those who oppose them who ultimately oppose you who oppose our Christ and who oppose the truth we do pray that you would deal with them we pray Lord that you would save many who are now your enemies you would save many who persecute your people that you would turn them from their madness and you would turn them unto the Lord Jesus Christ by grace and for your glory we do pray that we would hear stories even many who formerly persecuted your Saints who now join along with them singing hallelujah what a savior we do pray Lord as we do know that there will be many who remain in opposition to you and who will fight against you even unto a dying breath we do pray that you would deal with them and that you would take them out of the way that your people would know a temporal release from the tyranny of opposers and we do just pray that you would cause those who would seek to blaspheme your name and oppose your people to wither away like the snail so that they may no longer bring violence against the people of Christ we do pray God that you would deal with the governments of the world we would ask that you would take away from power those who would seek to pervert justice to to exercise wickedness in the land and to propagate all manner of Evil's we do just pray that you would cause them to stumble like drunken men and that you would replace them with those who would seek to propagate uprightness and IHS and two to maintain equity and justice in the various nations of the world we do pray ultimately God that you would vindicate your name in all the earth that your gospel would be victorious and that many this day would come to a knowledge of our saving Christ we pray for the preaching Lord God is it we look forward to that in a few minutes we pray that you'd be with pastor Butler we know Lord that a minister of the gospel that comes up to a pulpit and does not rely upon human strength but rests upon the strength that a triune God affords we do pray that you would give much to pastor Butler that he might open his Bible and speak well of our Christ and proclaim with precision the things of your revelation the holy scriptures and we do just pray God that now you would be with us might the preaching of the word and might the worship of our God be unto the salvation of sinners this morning and might it be unto the strengthening of your gathered Saints might we all because it is possible with you Lord God and you alone might we all leave these doors singing the praises of Christ and seeking to enter into this upcoming week to live for your glory sake we pray in the name of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ amen well let's stand and sing as a congregation again the next him it will be 446 will stand and sing 446 together Oh you can turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 10 Matthew 10 beginning in verse 16 our new testament scripture reading Matthew 10 verse 16 once again the word of the living and true God behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves but beware of men for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues you will be brought before governors and Kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles but when they deliver you up do not worry about how or what you should speak for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak for it is not you who speak but the Spirit of your father who speaks in you now brother will deliver up brother to death and a father his child and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death and you will be hated by all for my name's sake but he who endures to the end will be saved when they persecute you in this city flee to another for assuredly I say to you you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes a disciple is not above his teacher nor a servant above his master it is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher in a servant like his master if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub how much more will they call those of his household therefore do not fear them for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known whatever I tell you in the dark speak in the light and what you hear in the ear preach on the housetops and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father's will but the very hairs of your head are all numbered do not fear therefore you are of more value than many sparrows therefore whoever confesses me before men him i will also confess before my father who is in heaven but whoever denies me before men him i will also deny before my father who is in heaven do not think that I came to bring peace on earth I did not come to bring peace but a sword for I have come to set a man against his father a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's enemies will be those of his own household he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me and he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me he who finds his life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake will find it he who receives you receives me and he who receives me receives him who sent me he who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a Prophet's reward and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward and whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple assuredly I say to you he shall by no means lose his reward amen well just very briefly a number of things there no doubt a number of words of our Lord Jesus Christ that are familiar to you one of the things we notice not only here but as we read the New Testament accounts is that Christianity is not the last ten minutes of a Disney movie Jesus says here behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves he promises them not a road of bliss and happiness all the way unto heaven no doubt Christianity ends with that bless of reward and as we walk through this lower world we have the presence of our triune God the approbation of a loving father and we have the strength that Christ by his Spirit affords his people but there is no no promise of a skipping into heaven but rather in this lower world there is tribulation he would later speak these words in verse 34 do not think that I came to bring peace on earth I did not come to bring peace but a sword you know the this doesn't contradict the words of our Lord Jesus Christ or rather the words prior to his birth account where the angel says that this one will being bring peace on earth doesn't contradict the Apostle Paul's words and Ephesians 2 he himself is our peace Christ in Matthew 10 is simply bringing to the fore the reality that the peace that he brings or one of the things in the background is the piece that he brings is saving peace between father between God and men he brings that reconciliatory piece that justifying peace between God and men and it is not the case that the peace that he brings will be marked by this compromised relationship between his followers and those who do not follow him if you go to the book of Hebrews verses 34 239 is surely in the background in the book of Hebrews they were being tempted by father and daughter and mother and brother and mother in law to go back to temple worship and to not follow after this Christ of saving truth and so Jesus prior to prior to that gives them these words that he did not come to bring such a piece where Christian and Jew will dwell in a religious harmony and there will be no contention but rather the cause of God and truth demands that there will be this contention when truth comes there is always by those who oppose oppose it contention and violence and hatred and the exhortation is to remain strong in the things of our Lord Jesus Christ and hopefully just before we close in prayer here you can appreciate what a pastor does to prepare a sermon and what I mean by that is that pastors cannot come to verse 19 and find an argument for not preparing for a sermon but when they deliver you up do not worry about how or what you should speak for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak believe it or not some preachers have used this argument going up to a pulpit I didn't really prepare anything but you know it says in Matthew 1019 no this was something peculiarly confined to the disciples as they were being brought before councils and scourge din synagogues a pastor is to take much time to prepare for sermons and and rest assured the pastor coming up to the pulpit does so and as congregations we ought to in a biblical manner appreciate the work of men of God who seek to open up the Bible having prepared to proclaim it to a congregation that they might rejoice in Christ let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your revealed word to men we rejoice in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you for this extended narrative in Matthew where our Lord Jesus Christ is giving words of wisdom to disciples and we pray that 2,000 years removed from these things we would avail much of the words spoken by Christ to those men we do pray Lord that we would hear the words of our Savior our great Shepherd and Lord God that we would know his voice and seek daily to follow him knowing that in him we have every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places and we do just pray that you'd be with us now as we continue in worship my thoughts not in true that would steal us away from proper attention but rather might you by your spirit help us to be focused upon the preaching of the word now and might we leave this church singing the praises of our Blessed Christ and it's in his name that we pray amen our last him then before the preaching if you'll stand with me is 407 that's 407 to a familiar tune well please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 23 Matthew 23 I'll begin reading in verse 13 Jesus says but woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men for you neither go in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go in woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you devour widows houses and for a pretence make long prayers therefore you will receive greater condemnation woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you travel land and sea to win one proselyte and when he is one you make him twice as much a son of Hell as used as yourselves woe to you blind guides who say whoever swears by the temple it is nothing but whoever swears by the gold of the temple he is obliged to perform it fools and blind for which is greater the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold and whoever swears by the altar it is nothing but whoever swears by the gift that is on it he is obliged to perform it fools and blind for which is greater the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift therefore he who swears by the altar swears by it and by all things on it he who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it and he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law justice mercy and faith these you ought to have done without leaving the others undone blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel woe to you scribes and fair these hypocrites for you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish but inside they're full of extortion and self-indulgence blind Pharisee first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish that the outside of them may be clean also woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outward Lee but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous and say if we have lived in the days of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets fill up then the measure of your father's guilt serpents brood of vipers how can you escape the condemnation of hell therefore indeed i send you prophets wise men and scribes some of them you will kill and crucify and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of zechariah son of barrick aya whom you murdered between the temple and the altar assuredly I say to you all these things will come upon this generation o Jerusalem Jerusalem the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you were not willing see your house is left to you desolate for I say to you you shall see me no more till you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord amen we'll let us pray our Father in Heaven we come again to you now and we call upon you and ask that you would be glorified in this time that we spend together we ask that you would bless and encourage our hearts as we look to Scripture we ask that the whole spirit would guide us and lead us and aloo matar minds in our hearts we pray father for any and all who have come here this morning that do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior that you would bring conviction for sin and show them the sufficiency and the ability in the absolute excellency of our Lord Jesus Christ in saving to the uttermost all who draw near to God through him we pray as well our Father that you would forgive each and every one of us of all of our sins we know god thats in casts a darkening influence over our minds and our hearts so we pray that even now you would plunge us in that fountain that is open for sin and uncleanness she would wash us and purify us and cause us to receive with grateful hearts the word of the Living God we thank you as well Lord for blessing and preserving Anna in this past week we praise you for the arrival of dominic and we just commit both of them to the word of your grace and to your mercy to your kindness into your care as well be with Ron Porter and just uphold this man and bless him and may this day truly end with him in good physical health and health and strength and we pray these things through Christ Jesus our Lord amen well as we continue in our study in Matthew's Gospel we remain in Tuesday or on Tuesday of the Passion Week our Lord Jesus has been disputing with the religious leaders it begins in chapter 21 when they question him concerning by what authority does the things that he does and that sets off not only that confrontation but then Jesus through three parables condemns specifically the religious leaders but in turn the nation as a whole for their unfaithfulness to God and then there is a series of direct confrontation between Christ and the religious leaders for interchanges three they come to Jesus and ask specific question and then in the last one Jesus asks concerning the identified entity of the Messiah and then that brings us to chapter 23 and in verses 1 to 12 Christ warns his disciples and he warns the multitudes against the Pharisees and the scribes against the religious leaders he tells them the scribes and the Pharisees verse to sit in moe's see what they tell you that is consistent and right and accurate you need to do that but do not do as they do because they are hypocrites they are defectors from the truth as it is in Jesus and then from verses 13 on Jesus addresses them specifically the scribes and the Pharisees and he pronounces a series of eight woes upon that if you use a different version you have seven woes but that eight is still in the margin somewhere so there is a series of eight woes and the ones that we have looked at number one they close the doors of the kingdom number two they exploit widows and engage in pretentious praying number three they are missionaries for Hell itself and number four they pervert odes or they abuse the oath this morning we're going to take up the fifth one wherein they neglect weighty matters it's a very central one in fact da carson structures at all such that this particular woe is the center in terms of the literary structure whether that's actually the case or not there is certainly an argued an argument to be made that it's the theological center in other words how they view god's law affects how they relate to others how they treat the word of the Living God affects those things that have gone before and affect the things that follow after so this fifth woe is most important for us to get our minds and our hearts wrapped around of course after Jesus finishes with the woes he then tells them that judgment is coming to bear upon them we notice that what Jesus is doing here is not unique to Jesus remember Jesus is a prophet he comes into the city and the triumphal entry and the people of Galilee identify him as the Prophet Jesus Christ everywhere is affirmed as a prophet well we saw that Jesus functioning as a prophet is not unique he's like Isaiah Isaiah tells the parable of the vineyard Isaiah pronounces woes upon Israel and then Isaiah promises judgment to come and that is precisely what Christ does here and I think we'll see some more lengths in verses 23 and 24 with the prophets of old and our Lord Jesus but three things to observe as we look at verses 23 24 in the first place the condemnation secondly the qualification and thirdly the illustration but note in the first place the condemnation he says woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin now this is their anthesis they pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin you all know what anacin cumin are they're tiny little seeds and you know what meant is it grows out in the out in the garden it's an herb of the field well these men were fastidious when it came to tithing it was a good thing for them as far as they were concerned to give of all that they possessed in fact the the man in Luke 18 boasts as much he says I tithe of all that I possess now realize that what these scribes and Pharisees were doing was indeed sanctioned in the law their emphasis was consistent with what we find in the Old Testament leviticus twenty seven numbers 18 Deuteronomy 14 Deuteronomy 26 second chronicles 31 several places in Nehemiah and then as well that famous passage in Malachi 3 where God says test me in this with reference to bringing the tithes and the offerings and with specific reference to these miniscule seeds that they were offering up I always have it in my mind's eye that on the Sabbath morning they've got their little waist scales out and they're making sure they don't get one extra aniseed in there they're making sure they don't get one more bit of mint in there because they are fast hideous and they are committed to detail and if God the Lord demands a tenth than a tenth he shall get well in this particular section they are consistent and Jesus does not condemn in fact in the qualification will see that Jesus says they ought to tithe but in this in this in Leviticus 2730 it says in all the tithes of the land whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree it is the Lord's it is holy to the Lord so basically what Israel was tasked to do was to tithe and that word simply means 10 they were to take a tenth of everything that they produced everything that their field yielded and everything that the Lord had blessed them with and they were bringing it to bring it to the tabernacle or to the temple they were to give sacrificially of their earnings now when we do the math and when we compare this situation it wasn't just a straight 10% it was higher than that because each of the crops and each of the pieces of agriculture were offered upon or offered from and so these men were fastidious in the payment of these particular times and Jesus again does not condemn them necessarily for that they had a biblical warrant for tithing seeds they believed at least at this particular juncture that only food that had been tithe from was ritually pure and therefore could we eat it so they were really fastidious when it came to these particular things they boasted as I've already said in Luke 18 12 concerning their tithing Calvin says he comments just on the seeds notice Jesus doesn't say you tithe your land or you tie their cars or you tithe your business now again when you know he says i tithe all that I possess we don't need to disbelieve every every single scribe and Pharisee but Calvin picks up on the fact that seeds and herbs are mentioned he says they do this so as to make a display of extraordinary zeal for piety at the least possible expense that meant anise and cumin really isn't setting you back I mean there's no shortage of mint anise and cumin for you to bring ten percent of that you're really not impressing anyone as you may think that you possibly are but it's their emphasis that Jesus highlights in order to bring out their neglect this is the rub this is the issue you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law this is in the crosshairs of our Lord Jesus Christ this is what he's targeting this is what he's going after and again this is a condemnation of scribes and Pharisees in the first century but it's a warning to us it's an encouragement for us are we so fastidious in our tithing of mint and anise enjoyment that we neglect justice mercy and faith are we fastidious and our obligations religiously speaking but we we treat people like garbage or we treat them like dirt or we express no faith in the Living God who has saved us and called us to walk in union with him you see this is not simply a sin that's confined to these first century deviants but it's a sin that unfortunately has found its way into every generation of Christchurch we can major on the minors to the neglect of the majors again Jesus doesn't say don't tithe in fact when we pick up the qualification will say see that he says do tithe but don't tie to the neglect of justice mercy and faith they neglected the weightier matters of the law I hear some saying but as in all of God's law important yes all of God's law is important just like all of God's Word is important but with reference to God's Word for instance if you evangelize a sinner perhaps the best place to point that is not to how many qubits the south wall of the tabernacle was supposed to be but you point them to those clear and and an open passages concerning salvation by grace through faith in Jesus well the same thing was true in the Old Testament in fact we've seen it here in Matthew's Gospel turn to Matthew 7 just to see sort of this emphasis or see that Jesus himself upheld this rabbinic distinction that there was or were weightier matters of the law notice in 712 therefore whatever you want men to do to you what we call the golden rule what we ought to pray ought to be operative in our hearts what we ought to pray would be operative in the church today therefore whatever you want men to do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets you see Jesus is able to summarize the law and the profit by indicating that we treat people the way we want to we want them to treat us and then closer to our contacts Matthew chapter 22 22 you can turn there just to show just to highlight just to illustrate that there were weightier matters of the law in all of their fastidiousness with tithing their mint and anise and cumin they forgot to be nice to people they forgot to walk in faith toward God they forgot our neglected rather to do those things which were absolutely crucial and essential notice in 22 verse 34 but when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees they gathered together than one of them testing it or one of them a lawyer asked him a question testing him and saying teacher which is the Great Commandment in the law notice what Jesus doesn't say is it well they're all great they're all wonderful though Jesus I think would say that but he highlights the reality that the two primary elements the weightier matters of the law are love to God and love to man it's not to be obvious I think to everybody you know give me a little nod of the head unless you think I'm you know fell from Venus today and just baffling the minds what does they need brethren do you get what he's doing you see how it's applicable to our hearts in our lives we may not wake up on Sunday morning and way out mint and anise and cumin to be fastidious and the depositing of our ten percent in that wooden box out there but it may be something else that were zealously committed to and all the while we're not exercising justice and mercy and faith notice specifically they neglected the second table of the law justice and mercy I think that encapsulate our duty to men they neglected justice and mercy you can see their neglect of justice in this very passage notice excuse me in 2314 for a woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you devour widows houses and for pretence make long prayers remember they devour widows houses they exploit old lady who lost their husbands they abuse their positions of authority so you can see why Jesus would say you neglected justice these widows need justice God the Lord is the defender of the widow and yet you have not represented him but rather you have exploited them and thereby you have neglected this weightier matter of justice notice in verse 25 you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish but inside they're full of what extortion and self-indulgence you see Jesus isn't making stuff up he's not saying you tie the minion isn't coming but you neglect justice mercy and faith without a foundation what about mercy wherein do they deny wherein do they display a rejection of mercy go back to 9 13 9 13 it's when Matthew records Matthews conversion Matthew tells us about what happened when he was saved by Christ Matthew sitting in the tax office he's looking over the money that he had been tasked to collect and Jesus says come follow me Luke tells us he left all immediately any fellow a followed him and then notice after this Matthew throws a feast and Matthew through this feast because he was happy see that's what salvation does it makes you happy salvation calls for celebration you can see this in the psalter and in the prophets people that got saved did what they praise god they got saved and they celebrated the grace of god they got saved and they rejoiced they got saved and they had a spring in their step they got saved and you could tell something had happened to that so Matthew calls this feast as well this feast would honor the Savior I mean if Christ comes and saves you and he happens to be in town it would be a good thing to invite him over for a meal right the son of man had nowhere to lay his head at least give him a nice hot meal for having brought you out of darkness into marvelous light so in honor the Savior as well it would be a means by which math you could evangelize his fellow tax collectors and sinners and of course when these tax collectors and sinners are gathered together with the Lord Jesus what are the Pharisees do the Pharisees have their snooty any pouty attitude and they say things like well why does your teacher in with sinners and what does Jesus do what is Jesus highlight 913 those who are well have no need of a physician this is verse 12 but those who are sick but go and learn what this means I desire mercy and not sacrifice this was a dig at the scribes and the Pharisees when he says go and learn what this means Jesus is talking to a rabbinic class who knew what Jose ascitic said but they didn't know what it meant so we can be like that we can know that a text of Scripture is in the Bible we can know what it says but we may not know what it means and this is evidenced in the way that they've responded to these particular sinners and tax collectors notice as well in 12 7 12 7 same text employee they get upset they won they grumble they claw cry because the Lord Jesus Christ or his disciples ate grain on the Sabbath day notice in verse 7 but if you had known what this means I desire mercy and not sacrifice you would not have condemned the guiltless so back in 23 in this fifth whoa when Jesus says you neglect justice mercy and faith he's not kidding they really did so they neglect the second table of the law justice and mercy but they also neglect the first table of the law when he says you neglect justice mercy and faith some translate this as faithfulness meaning man's responsibility to live consistently with God's law now I don't believe man should be faithless I certainly think man should be faithful but in this particular passage as we compare a couple attacks faith is accurate and I'm not saying Jesus was right that I'm saying the translation faith versus faithful mass is the better translation when you compare the parallel in Luke Luke says and love God when we compare the background which we will in just a moment we will see that the prophets oftentimes the Covenant people for their failure to respect the entirety of God's law and Jesus is acting in prophetic manner here and condemning these people for the very same thing now the background of the immediate background for 23 23 is micah chapter 6 you can turn their Micah chapter 6 sure you know this verse I'm sure you've had it as a memory verse I hope you've had it as a memory verse it's one of those glorious passages that we should commit to memory so remember what Jesus says you've tied the mint in the anise in the cumin but you've neglected the weightier matters of the law justice mercy and faith notice in micah 68 he has shown you O man what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God you see all elements in terms of the law you've got this do justly love mercy our response to man and this walk humbly with your God this is our obligation to God to walk in faith in the particular context in Matthew 23 23 when they neglect justice mercy and faith they do it with a vengeance because the Messiah is present among them they reject him they despise and they're going to deliver them up to be crucified so not only are they not exercising faith and God's appointed means for their salvation but they actually execute him via crucifixion so for Jesus to condemn them in this manner is absolutely consistent they've neglected justice they've neglected mercy they've neglected faith you need to understand something about Matthew 23 23 and Micah 68 these are not isolated passages go back to the book of Genesis go back to the book of Genesis we're going to take a few moments here because I think this is crucial for us to see what Jesus is doing in Matthew 23 notice in Genesis 18 we covered this text a few weeks ago when I preached on Family Worship remember what God says in Genesis 18 18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him notice in verse 19 God's purpose for Abraham for I have known him in order that he may command his children in his household after him that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him so you see it the wording maybe a little bit different as we survey a few of these texts but conceptually you need to appreciate that when these scribes and Pharisees are indicted by the prophet Christ they stand in a long stream of persons who have been indicted by the Living God of Israel through his faithful prophets notice in Deuteronomy 10 Deuteronomy chapter 10 specifically in verses 12 and 13 and now Israel what does Yahweh your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God to walk in all his ways and to love him to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul dropping down it specifies being kind or loving to the stranger in the land so the Lord God calls for an entire commitment the Lord God calls for that blessed man to walk according to the law both tables the first table our duty toward God the second table our duty toward men notice in the Prophet Hosea Hosea chapter 12 again just to illustrate for you that what Jesus does and even what Micah did was not unique to those profits Hosea the Prophet specifically chapter 12 now what Jose is doing here and it's going to help us appreciate what Micah does because I think it's even a little more clearer in micah is that the prophets engaged in what's called a covenant lawsuit now before you all say you know and sign up for an Old Testament biblical theology today what's Jesus doing in Matthew 23 it's a covenant lawsuit he's indicted the nation you say well why is that important for me to understand it will certainly help us when we get to chapter 2 for when we started talking about destruction of the temple we start talking about destruction of Jerusalem we start talking about God's judgment visited upon his people how we understand the preceding chapters will help us understand who the target audience is in Matthew 24 as well but notice here in Hosea 12 to the Lord also brings a charge a legal complaint a covenant lawsuit against Judah notice in verse 6 so you by the help of your God return observe mercy and justice and wait on your God continually the Prophet Zechariah in the post-exilic setting the prophet here is rehearsing why God brought judgment to bear upon the previous generation in Zechariah 78 then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah this is the application of the command of the people based on that that they need to get right thus says the Lord of hosts execute true justice show mercy and compassion every one to his brother do not oppress the widow or the fatherless the alien of the poor let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother so going back to my cup you can go back to my cup just to see the strict parallel that exists between what Jesus is doing and what Micah did before him so it helps us as I said when we get to Matthew 24 to understand what's going on Matthew 24 is a very disputed and debated text Matthew 24 causes a lot of confusion for the people of God and I think that if we take into account the context we take into account the prophetic function of our Lord in this passage in these passages it will help us we may not everything have everything figured out in Matthew 24 but it will certainly help us to see that what Jesus is doing is nothing new in Israel's history notice Micah six as I said it's a covenant lawsuit verse 1 here now what y'all way says arise plead your case before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice verses 1 and 2 the created order itself is called the test called his witness the created order God does this when it comes to covenantal dealings at times he swears her rather he refers to the creation to pay attention to what is happening notice the opening argument is leveled by God himself through the Prophet in verses three to five and essentially what God says is why do you function this way I've only blessed you it's like you parents when your kid goes astray at 16 or 17 isn't any in you to say why would you do this we've only ever given you the best we gave you a roof we gave you three squares we gave you a bed we gave you you know air conditioning on those miserably hot chilliwack IAM days we were everything to you and this is the way you treat us now that sounds petulant but God here is righteous in the way that he brings it about why would Israel who had been benefit of benefactors to everything good every good thing God had done for them and they sit against him o my people what have I done to you verse 3 how have i wearied you testify against me for I brought you up from the land of Egypt i redeemed you from the house of bondage and I sent before you Moses Aaron a Miriam o my people remember now what day like king of Moab counsel and what balaam the son of baelor answered him from acacia grove to gilgal that you may know the righteousness of the Lord now not the response of these people verse 6 they asked this insincere question with what shall i come before the Lord and bow myself before the High God shall i come before him with burnt offerings with calves a year old you see what they're saying why are you so upset what will it take to get you off our back what will it take to pacify God and then they up that in verse 7 and they sound pagan they sound ballistic or Milwaukee and/or asurion notice in verse 7 will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams brethren do not think these people are sincere actually say well what can we bring this and God will be will be satisfied no they're not saying that whatsoever will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams ten thousand rivers of oil shall I give my first born for my transgression this sounds like they serve mole heck or bail and not your way of Israel shall I give the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul this is not sincere it's not legit it's not right and in this context what's the Prophet said he has shown you this ain't new this isn't a brand-new revelatory word out of the mouths of Micah this is what has been since the the purpose for Abraham the pattern for Israel the same sort of thing other prophets have denounced it Israel for for their city has shown you O man what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God you see what he's not saying is oh you're really asking the question and you really want the answer well here's the end no this underscores how guilty they are he has shown you O man when you say things I wasn't on what God would have me to do he has shown you O man I don't know what the Lord wants he has shown you O man people do this when they're trying to figure out God's will for my life you a God's will is for your life open your Bible and read it and do what God says that ought to keep you busy for years and years and years and years we want to find the secret meaning of God's mind for us just do the reveal bangs he has given to you and that will occupy you until Jesus returns I guarantee it the will of God is specified in several places in the Bible it's not a mystery it's not hard young people you know what the will of God for you is 1st Thessalonians 4 your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality now that's for old people to just young people doesn't mean old people go out and engage in sexual immorality you know what God's will is for you in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 your to pray your to rejoice and you were to be thankful brethren instead of trying to figure out what secret things God has for us let's busy ourselves with those things reveal let's not fall prey to what Israel is doing well how can I please God what does he want for me to have this good relationship with him I got a wacky idea why don't you join a church and be faithful well you know that just doesn't quare with what I think God has for me I'm convinced that's what God has for you he has more for you later on down the road then praise God from whom all blessings flow but do not live based in this ethereal world of what you think God may be doing read scripture and do what God actually has said to you it's a beautiful thing so Micah says he has shown you a man what is good and then interestingly enough in verses 9 to the end of the chopping what Micah says judgments coming judgments coming judgments coming now go back to Matthew 23 what's Jesus doing the same thing fact at the very end of the woes he says therefore your witnesses against themselves that you were sons of those who have murdered the prophets he says therefore a serpent's brood of vipers how can you escape the condemnation of hell therefore I send you these people and you're going to persecute that notice in verse 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias on abarrach I'll whom you murdered between the temple in the altar in case we've missed that notice verse 36 assuredly I say to you all these things will come upon this generation why the problem when we get to Matthew 24 why do we scratch our melons and say is he talking about the great tribulation in our future no he's talking about the same generation that he's just condemned the way the prophets before him did it it not ought not to be so difficult brethren when we come to these passages if we spend time understanding the context and the prophetic function of our Blessed Lord so that's what Jesus does he condemns them notice the qualification the qualification back in 23 23 you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law justice and mercy and faith know these you ought to have done these the tithing of the mint and the anacin Macau these you are to have done what's Jesus saying what to do everything God says this is tempting because sometimes people there are people that major on minors to the exclusion of majors you know they get a B in their bonnet over some idiosyncrasy or over some Shibboleth and that becomes everything to them and they forget justice mercy and faith but there are people that major on majors and forget the minors it's a good thing for man to commit his life to freeing sex slaves are fraying the downtrodden the poor but he should be a member of a church he should tithe he should read his Bible he should lead his family in worship well I'm just out there doing kingdom stuff I can't be bothered with those little things well Jesus says you better be bothered with those little things you see it's not up to us to pick and choose what law we're going to obey like these tithing things because that you know I can just write a check I'm done more like it's justice mercy and faith because that means i have to be nice to people that's just not my disposition you see that's just on my gift the Lord hasn't made me that way you can't do that look at what Jesus says look at what Jesus emphasized look at how Jesus qualifies he condemns them like the prophets before him he condemns them in the context of the Covenant lawsuit he condemns them with a view to pronouncing judgment upon their heads he condemns them and nevertheless he says these you ought to have done without leaving the others undone you know there was a time I never wanted to preach on tithing or giving because it always feels self serving as a pastor there's no great mystery how does the pastor make you know how does a pastor eat well the church pays in okay so you're saying people put money in the box and that directly affects you yeah my brother says I'd like to live on love and fresh air but I can't I you know I couldn't make my kids get satisfied on love and fresh air they needed shoes they needed you know a roof over their heads they needed you know umbrellas to not get wet and sick and whatnot so I've always been reluctant on this I'm past that now because God says you need to give I don't want to hinder anybody's growth and grace or their life of sanctification because I'm too afraid to say you need to cough up and I'm not saying you need to cough up because I need a bigger Hut know what you do between God and you is between a god and you here's what Matthew Henry said in his comment on this passage he says they that are taught in the word and do not communicate to them that teach them that love a cheap gospel come short of the Pharisees it's pretty strong isn't it scary North has said somewhere Americans like their religion and they like it cheap so the Lord does not condemn tithing the Lord condemns imbalance Davies and Allison say tithing is not undone by the weightier matters of the law but subordinated to them France says what he objects to is the unbalanced piety which sets great store by these relatively insignificant rules but misses the things that really matter did you really need me to stand here for 35 minutes so far and tell you that's what the tax means you tie the mint in the anise in the comment but you neglect the weightier matters of the law justice mercy and faith these the first you ought to have done without leaving the others undone now notice thirdly the illustration blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel now the straining refers to keeping Nats out of the wine it's a good thing or out of your water remember this is the days when they didn't have you know the lids that we haven't you know the courts that we have in the vacuum seal method that we however you know butcher paper freezers and all that stuff that helps us to preserve and not ingest Nats you see their concern was legit the NAT according to Leviticus 11 41 was unclean they shouldn't have ingested Nats just like they shouldn't have not left undone tithing in order to fulfill God's requirement in that regard according to Leviticus 11 41 then that was unclean so the practice was right the camel however was unclean also Leviticus 11 4 and so the practice was wrong for them to strain out the GNAT the King James for some reason has strain strain at the net its strain out than at its keep the net out of your wine keep the net out of your water that's the point of the passage that's the point of what Jesus illustration is you see they swallow camels and that's bad just like neglecting the weightier matters of the law justice mercy and faith so you see what Jesus does here he uses an illustration to highlight the absurdity of their practice the lesser things Davies and Allison however useful are needful must never eclipse the greater Lords don't spend all your time straining out a gnat and then ingest a camel make sense doesn't it if you got a problem with the unclean nat you should have a problem with the unclean camel get it this is his point Calvin said it this way it is evident that these hypocrites amuse themselves with such distinctions for while they pass by just judgment mercy and faith and even taryn pieces the whole law they are excessively rigid and severe and matters that are of no great importance he says and while in this way they pretend to kiss the feet of God they proudly spit in his face now permit me one brief moment to make a sideline application here before we apply the substance of the teaching Jesus statement here in verse 24 was an illustration was hyperbolic and even humorous it was hyperbolic and he humorous he does this elsewhere Matthew 7 verses 3 to 5 don't go after the speck in your brother's eye when you've got a log hanging out of your own eye can I just tell you brethren that that's funny or when Jesus talks about how difficult it is for a rich man to enter into heaven what's the illustration he gives he must have liked camels because he uses them there too it's like a camel trying to go through the eye of a needle again that's funny it's just like when Elijah is on Mount Carmel challenging those profits of bail and he says maybe you're God's on holiday maybe you're God's meditating the real knee-slapper came to the remnant when he said maybe he's in the bathroom the point brethren that I want to just observe from a sideline is that preaching and teaching of the Bible ought to be interesting the transmission of biblical data ought to be something that thrills the redeemed soul and to some degree captures the attention of everybody that listens there's nothing pre-eminently holy about a man who mutters behind a manuscript and just rolls out the data without seeking by the grace of God to bring the people to the tax so they appreciate the written word what Christ says here is humorous it's hyperbolic in the Aramaic the two words that are used even sounds similar if you were sitting there or standing there you would have got a little chuckle out of this I've been with pastors and the question has come up is it ever right to use humor in preaching now I advocate that it is but I don't mean you know there were how many you know Protestants does it take to change a light bulb or how many you know a pope and a and a pastor and a rabbi walked into a no no I'm not talking those kinds of things the Brethren pastors preachers of God's Word are dealing with the most exciting book ever written we will bore people out of their minds when we go to the valley of ayla we ought to appreciate what's happening now when David downs of Goliath when we run through the various books of the Bible we ought to take time to ponder the beauty the literary craft employed the excellency in the majesty of the style and along the way brethren we ought to appreciate that Jesus uses an outlandish illustration to illustrate something that was so obviously in a certain absurdity you told this to your kids they're going to laugh jesus said this he says if people busy themselves trying to strain out nads and they swallow camels they get a picture in their head of a man trying to swallow a camel and they laugh thou shalt never laugh yeah well I love this statement by William Williams he was a contemporary and a companion of Charles Haddon Spurgeon he said what a bubbling fountain of humor mr. spurgeon had I laughed more I verily believe when in his company than during all the rest of my life besides he had the most fascinating gift of laughter and he had also the greatest ability for making all who heard him laugh with him when someone blamed him for saying humorous things in his sermons he said he would not blame me blame me if he only knew how many of them I keep at Spurgeon himself said sometimes when I have set a humorous thing in preaching I have not asked you to excuse me i'm not saying i got i'm just saying do not have a problem with the proper youths or a sanctified use of something that God has given to men I really believe that when Jesus does this he uses these outlandish illustrations let me think about it he even preface is it with blind guides the whole prospect of a blind man trying to strain out a gnat suggests itself as someone humorous to me I mean you don't typically task blind people and not trying to diss anybody who has that malady with straining out the Nats so that your meal isn't affected with the unclean little varmints he says sometimes when I have said a humorous thing in preaching I've not asked you to excuse me for if God has given me humor I mean to use it in his cause many a man has been caught and his ear arrested and his attention won by a quaint remark if anyone can prove it is a wickedness and not a natural faculty I will abandon it but it is a faculty of nature and it ought to be consecrated and used for the cause of Christ again a joke telling session has no place but brethren a use of humor like our Lord does helps the mind connect to truth I like steak but a slab of meat on the plate yeah leat it's good but throw some salt and pepper and all that good stuff on there preaching on to exhilarate people preaching ought to inform to be sure and instruct concerning the scriptures and hopefully exhort people to change their ways but when the book of god is in the hands of a man who doesn't preach it as it ought to be that's a terrible thing so that's the sideline observation let's apply the passage in the first place we would all say and I sure we've heard this terminology the majoring on the minors he majors on the minus always somebody else not us right it's always that they made shirt on the minors we never look in the mirror and say you know maybe I major on them Oh nah couldn't be you would never do that you holy pure righteous specimen of a human being we need to realize in the first place with reference to the persons who major on the minors I'm preaching to all of us this morning I'm going to violate a rule set forth by Jay Adams on a rule but a recommendation Jay Adams says preachers always ought to preach in the second plural it ought to always be a you not because the preacher himself is innocuous another word of God but the preaching event all idea is that God the Lord by the Spirit of God through his word singles out you I got to throw me in there today brethren because I have seen the enemy and it is me we need to realize in the first place the miners are not important and must be tended to wow I've really neglected justice and mercy and faith i'm going to go camp on justice and mercy and faith i'm going to leave my church i'm gonna leave my family when I stopped I they're going to stop no no don't do that we need to understand the miners are not important it must be tended to secondly miners are minors and should not be obsessed over to the neglect of majors minors are minors and should not be obsessed over to the neglect of majors if that one thing that isn't justification by faith or the triune nature of God or the deity of our Lord Jesus if that one thing that isn't those occupies every waking moment of your day you may have a problem we're not to obsess on minors and neglect majors Calvin said Christ charges the scribes of the fault which is found in all hypocrites that they are exceedingly diligent and careful in small matters but disregard the principal points of the law a third observation as the majors and the minors must not be neglected but both should be practiced by the believer I think I've already referred to it people major on minors to the neglect of justice and mercy and faith but there's a class of people today that camp on justice and mercy and faith but can't be bothered with things like church membership they can't be bothered with you know actually showing up and singing with a congregation they've got crime to fight no you're not supposed to neglect them to the minors either I think Matthew Henry captures this sentiment he says sincere obedience is universal and he that from a right principle ogay obeys any of God's precepts will have respect to them all Universal anyone the one that from right principle obeys any of God's precepts will have respect to them all and then the minors may be obsessed over to the neglect of art the minors may be obsessed over in order to mask the neglect of the majors in other words if I'm out here tithing my mint and anise and cumin I'm over here looking at internet porn until my brain is falling out everybody sees all the good that i'm doing and i managed to mask this you know i see these debates on facebook or online and sometimes you see men that are very rude to other people sometimes you see them rude to pastors men that have been in the ministry for 20 30 years they're being treated like you know they're little kids on a playground I just wondered do all these guys who know so much are they members of churches are they plugged in as the common parlance would suggest are they tithers are they do errs of those minor things or have they found a way to pontificate and make people captive to all of their brilliancy without actually engaging in true and biblical religion the Brethren the warning for the church our church us each and every one of us CH Spurgeon said there are gnats trainers among us still who apparently have no difficulty in swallowing a camel hump and all i would suggest there are several things we ought to be on guard form not going to elaborate a lot i think the propositions tell what i mean the first place we miss the storyline of the bible in an attempt to marshal texts to support our idiosyncrasies say well i was a confusing statement we missed the point of the bible to try and figure out how we're supposed to do this that or the other now we should seek every answer from god's word but we should understand what god's words point is is it to make you the best businessman in the lower mainland is it is that why we have these 66 wonderful books called the Old and New Testaments so that you can achieve your goal of being the best businessman or the best cake baker in the lower mainland now re line of the Bible it's about God in Christ reconciling the world to himself to bring glory and praise and honor to God the current book I'm reading is is consistent and is accurate the whole point of the entirety of the Bible say answer the question who shall ascend the Mount of the Lord so reason the Pentateuch is structured the way it is so that sinners can ascend and be in the presence of God so reason the Bible takes on the contours that it does Christ is the one who shall ascend that mount and Christ brings his elect with him so that we may dwell in the presence of God you want underlying theme and current throughout scripture is it is the covenant promise of God that I will be your God and you shall be my people now I don't doubt that the principles in the Bible will help you to be a better businessman in this world but that's not its point its point is how shall we sinful men dwell in the presence of a holy God we boast of our supposed acts of piety but we don't treat people with justice and mercy lets you know goody for you you fasted three days last week but you're mean to people you're just not pleasant you're on kind you're unhappy your sour that's got to be a neglect of mercy this doesn't it we are obsessed with our shibboleths if you don't know what that word means you have two options you can either a look in the book of Judges from whence it comes or google it we are obsessed with our shibboleths but we can't define justification by faith alone we like the hypocrites in chapter 23 are imbalanced in our approach to the Christian life we major on the minors to the neglect of the majors we attempt to get persons to jump on our particular bandwagons while neglecting the weightier matters of the law we make our preferences of thus saith the Lord and we somehow interpret that is everybody else's mandate I got a good suggestion for all of let's busy ourselves with Solomon's admonition to keep our heart with all diligence you have a full-time job keeping your heart all day you aren't skilled enough to govern the hearts of everybody else you're just not that may shatter your illusions this morning on sorry I don't mean to defend your safe space or hurt your feelings but you don't have the wherewithal to govern the hearts of everybody you know we're not to take our particular theological oddity or it may even be an accuracy and make it everybody else's not again we're not talking about denying justification by faith we criticize persons for failing to devote the same attention to the particular minor things that we have chosen to devote ourselves to I mean in my history as a Christian and in my history as a pastor I've heard on a few a case of with the church just got this one thing right either be glorious revival if the church just stopped doing this then heaven would come down and glory would fill our souls I hope that you understand that's probably not going to happen if we could Institute that every single believer started having shoehorns in their homes I don't think that would bring such a remedial benefit to the church or if we took our Shibboleth or our preference or our conviction and it may even be a lawful accurate thing but it may be an area of Liberty and we say if the church just fixed that then everything would be hunky-dory it's a failure to recognize the systemic problem of church dumb we got a whole host of issues it's not just we'll all stop doing this and everything will be great oh no no no no no we got a lot to deal with and a lot to work on but this is the attitude we criticize other person's for failing to capitalize on the miners that we ourselves have capitalized on in some my dear brothers and sisters Christ condemns the scribes and the Pharisees but Christ warns the church today may it not be the case that we like hypocrites are straining out gnats and swallowing the camel hump and all for things that are not weighty matters die for weighty matters fight full weighty matters contend earnestly for weighty matters do not neglect justice and mercy and faith do not neglect the minor matters but be very careful and be very cautious before casting aspersion upon somebody's reputation because they view the minor matters a little differently than you may and their practice doesn't exactly line up with what you think is approved we will reap the condemnation of our Lord we will hear him say woe to you church member you tithe mint and anise and comment but you neglected justice mercy and faith blind guides straining out the net and gulping down a camel please brothers sisters my experience it's the minor things that split churches it's the minor things that make people unhappy with one another it's the minor things that people no longer want to hang out with others they have a different view of schooling than we do so we're never going to have fellowship with them they have a different view of of eating meat and I can't have that they have a different view of whatever it is that's the stuff that typically rips people apart straight at the Nats but we ingest the camel hump and all will praise god for the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ because it's Christ's cross that delivers us from sin it is Christ's gospel his blood his righteousness that's what we desperately need not just tithing it's not just doing justice mercy and faith no no we're not saved by those acts of law keeping we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone if you're an unbeliever here this morning you're not a Christian you haven't come to the Savior do not leave her and say Butler said I need to tithe and I need to be a social justice warrior and I'll go to heaven Butler didn't say that Butler never would say that the way of salvation the way of entrance into the kingdom of heaven is by grace through faith in Jesus Butler's admonition and encouragement to you today is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved believe on Him who came into this world who lived in obedience to the law of God who died as a sacrifice for sinners at Calvary and who rose again the third day he now sits enthroned at the right hand of the Father on high and all those who by grace look to him will live it's beautiful that's the gospel that's the good news so if I told you this morning go tithe go to justice mercy and faith that would be a burden you could not fulfill because you're supposed to do it perpetually you're supposed to do it exactly and entirely and personally we can't do that I'm telling you to believe to look to the Lord Jesus to trust in him and in him alone and one by grace you are saved and take these instructions to heart and live the way the Lord would call us to let us pray father we thank you for your word we thank you for our Lord's teaching and the clarity of it god I thank you for all of these things and the consistency of the parts the unity of the parts and the consent of the whole and we just pray that you'd help us to get our minds wrapped around such texts and help us God to guard our hearts when it comes to such sins and may it not be the case that we would have this whoa pronounced upon us may it not be the case that we busy ourselves with nats all the while swallowing camels grant us grace to be charitable to be loving to be kind to be those who do the minor things and those who do the major things and that by grace and for the glory of god almighty go with us now we pray and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord amen we'll close with a brief time maybe this you