Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 21. Proverbs chapter 21. I'll read verse 3 and then pray, and then we'll look at this passage of Scripture. Proverbs 21.3, to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Father in heaven, we thank you for the written word. We thank You that it's given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable to us in all things. And we pray even now that You would thoroughly furnish us unto every good work, that You would cause us to reflect upon that written Word, and may the Holy Spirit seal it into our hearts, and may it be the case that we would walk in obedience. Do forgive us, Lord God, for our having disobeyed, and do cleanse us from all unrighteousness and sin.
We ask, God, that you would fill us now with your Holy Spirit and help us to understand this passage of Scripture and the larger context of the Word of God with reference to these things. And we pray this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, I want to look at a lot of passages this evening that I think shed light on what Solomon says here in Proverbs chapter 21 at verse 3. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. And I want to, first of all, engage in an exposition of Proverbs 21.3. And then, second of all, I want to look at the emphasis of this in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In his woes pronounced against the scribes and the Pharisees, Jesus essentially quotes this particular passage, or at least thematically, and he drives that home as one of the problems with the Pharisees. So let's look first of all at Proverbs 21.3.
Exposition of Proverbs 21:3
Notice the connection. In verse 2, Solomon says, every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts. God weighs the hearts. He knows what is in us.
The eyes of Yahweh, according to Proverbs 15, are in every place, beholding the good and the evil. So the omniscience of God, the Lord weighs the hearts. And when the Lord weighs the hearts, according to verse 3, he is looking for righteousness and he is looking for justice. In other words, the people of God are supposed to manifest these particular things in their lives.
Now notice, secondly, the requirement. It is to do righteousness and justice. The godly man pursues righteousness. I think this is relative to God.
I think righteousness answers to the first table of the law and justice to the second table. In other words, our duty to God and our duty to man is comprehended here in this summary statement. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to God or the Lord than sacrifice. John Gill says, the moral duties of religion, what is holy, just, and good, which the law requires, what is agreeable to both tables, piety towards God and justice to man.
Again, I don't think any of this is surprising to us, that the Lord weighs the hearts, and as He weighs the hearts, He is looking for that commitment to righteousness in terms of our response to God, and justice in terms of our response to men. In other words, we fulfill, by God's grace at least, imperfectly as it may be, those first four commandments in terms of our responsibility to God, and those latter six commandments with reference to our responsibility to man. But this is not alone in Scripture. This is a recurring theme, and I want to survey several passages.
Righteousness and Justice in the OT
Go back to Genesis chapter 18 for just a moment. Genesis chapter 18, where we see this emphasis in the life of Abraham. In Genesis 18, at verse 18, God says, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. In other words, God is saying, I'm going to let him know what my plan or intention is for Sodom and Gomorrah.
And then in verse 19, we read, for I have known him in order that he may command his children and 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 this pattern of obedience with reference to God, with reference to man, is exemplified here in the life of Abraham. Abraham engaged in this sort of thing. He engaged in righteousness and in justice.
Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 10. While some of the language may not be precisely the same, the thematic connection is obvious. The pattern of Israel's life in the land is declared by God through Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 10 at verses 12 and 13. Notice in Deuteronomy 10, 12, and now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God?
That's that duty toward God, that first commandment, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God, and with all your heart, with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes, which I command you today for your good. Again, it's a bit more amplified, it's a bit longer, it's a lot more detail, but the sum and substance of it is to do righteousness and justice before the living and true God. When we turn to the prophets, we see this emphasis as well in Israel's religious life. You can turn to the prophet Hosea.
Hosea chapter 12. And in these instances, the people of God, the covenant people, Israel, they're being upbraided for their having not engaged in righteousness and justice, for failing to comply with what Solomon says there in Proverbs 21 at verse 3. Notice in Hosea 12.6. So you, by the help of your God, return, observe mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually.
See, this isn't something new to Solomon. This isn't something unique to Solomon. This has always been God's way. Exemplified in Abraham, the pattern for Israel, for life in the land, and then the prophets come and sue the people of God for their having not engaged in this righteousness and justice.
Turn to the prophet Zechariah. Zechariah, the second to the last book in the Old Testament, Zechariah chapter 7, which is an intriguing chapter that in many ways really does illustrate Proverbs 21.3. We'll look at the comparison in Proverbs 21.3 in just a moment. But for now, I just want us to see that this was always the case for the people of God.
Notice in Zechariah chapter seven, specifically at verses eight to 10, then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, execute true justice, show mercy and compassion, everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor, let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother. Again, a recurring emphasis on doing righteousness and justice. Our obedience with reference to God, our obedience to God with reference to men.
And then one final passage that I think in some ways is probably the most popular is Micah chapter 6. You can turn there. Micah chapter 6. Micah chapter 6 is an intriguing passage of scripture.
It is a courtroom scene. The prophet is functioning as God's prosecuting attorney. The mountains, the created order, serve or function as the witnesses with reference to this courtroom. And then in verse 3, the Lord God opens up with his opening argument.
He says, O my people, what have I done to you, and 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, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled, and what Balaam the son of Baal answered him, from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord.
So the people of Israel are not conducting themselves in a manner that is consistent with God's word. They're not engaging in righteousness and justice. They're engaged in covenant breach. And so the Lord God says, what have I done to you?
How have I wearied you? What in my part of our relationship has brought you to the point of this infidelity? Now notice the response of Israel to God. Verse six, it's an insincere question.
With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? In other words, we want to try and fix this, at least externally. We want to put a band-aid on this. So with what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God?
Notice the emphasis on the externals. Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
Shame on them for offering up this sort of an argument. What will make him happy? What will appease him? What will get him off our back is essentially what they're suggesting.
And they then suggest even human sacrifice. They treat Yahweh as if he's Molech. Now notice the response by God through the prophet in verse 8. It says, 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? This isn't something that should baffle you. This isn't something that should leave you perplexed. It's not the case that you have to manufacture sacrifice and even bring the fruit of your loins and present it unto God.
He's always told you, you've always been conscious of the requirement, you know the definition of obedience to God the Lord. He has shown you. He's not left you in the dark with reference to this particular issue. So when Solomon says to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice, Solomon is in the great train of redemptive history.
He's not telling people anything that they hadn't already heard.
The Comparison: Moral Over Ceremonial
Now, going back to Proverbs 21.3, Solomon makes this comparison. He says, to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. It is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Now, there's a couple of things we ought to observe here.
In the first place, Solomon is not anti-sacrifice. If you go back to 1 Kings chapter 3, prior to the construction of the temple, Solomon offered up a lot of sacrifices. When the temple was built and they dedicated the temple, Solomon offered up a lot of sacrifices. It is a comparative statement.
He's not saying that sacrifice is terrible, sacrifice is bad, sacrifice is evil, but he is putting an emphasis on the moral law. In other words, to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice. The law can be divided into a threefold way. There is moral law, there is judicial law, which governed the people of Israel in the land, and then there is the ceremonial law.
And sacrifice typically refers to ceremonial law. And so what God is saying to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to him than sacrifice. In other words, to obey the 10 commandments, to glorify God through obedience. And again, Solomon is not alone with reference to this emphasis.
Probably one of the most familiar references in 1 Samuel chapter 15. You can turn there. 1 Samuel chapter 15. Again, Solomon isn't saying that the sacrificial system is bad. Solomon is simply highlighting the priority of the ethical over the cultic.
He is highlighting the day-in obedience to the Lord God Almighty over those laws relative to the cult. But notice in 1 Samuel 15, remember the occasion. God tells Saul to go and utterly destroy Agag and all of the Amalekites. That was the marching order.
Saul go in and utterly destroy Agag and the Amalekites. So Saul goes on this particular mission. He comes back having not fulfilled it. And he tells Samuel that he had fulfilled it.
And Samuel says, well, why am I hearing these oxen and why am I hearing these sheep? If you would have done what God said, I would not be hearing these things right now. And of course, Saul tries to blame the people. Now, ultimately, God comes to deal with them pretty severely in 1 Samuel 15, 22.
So Samuel said, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of ram. Again, it is not an indictment of the sacrificial system, but rather it is an indictment of a heartless approach to the sacrificial system. There are times where God receives the moral without the ceremonial, but he never received the ceremonial without the moral.
You cannot go to God foul and polluted by sin, engage in the external trappings associated with our religion, and somehow think that God is pacified. That's the mistake of the people in Micah the prophet. How do we come before him? Do we multiply these things?
Do we bring him our firstborn? He has shown you, oh man, you already know it is faithful obedience to God's holy law to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice. He goes on in verse 23 to highlight that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.
Turn back to the prophet Hosea. The prophet Hosea. We looked at this text several weeks ago when we looked at Matthew 9. Remember in Matthew chapter 9, when Jesus is at that feast in Matthew's house, celebrating the good gifts of God Almighty, the scribes and the Pharisees, they complain.
Why has he gone to be a guest at the home of a sinner? And Jesus cites this particular passage in Hosea 6 at verse 6. Notice God says, I desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Turn to the book of Psalms, Psalm 40.
Just to show this comparative, it is not the case that sacrifice or the ceremonial or the externals with reference to our religion are absolutely unnecessary, but there is a priority on a heart of obedience. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. That's the point. That's the emphasis.
Notice in Psalm 40, verses six and seven. Sacrifice and offering you did not desire. My ears you have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering you did not require.
Then I said, behold, I come. In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, oh my God. And your law is within my heart.
You see the premium placed on obedience from the heart over the burnt offerings and the sacrifices. One other place, Psalm 51. Psalm 51. And when Solomon says justice or righteousness and justice more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice, there are those sacrifices of a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart.
These, O God, you will not despise. That's not what Solomon means in Proverbs 21. He means the call. He means the external.
He means going through those ceremonies of Moses without having a heart commitment to the law of God. But notice specifically in Psalm 51, verse 16, four, you do not desire sacrifice or else I would give it. You do not delight in burnt offering. Again, if we do these things, if we engage in the externals of our religion, we come to church, we read our Bible, we hang out with one another, we fellowship in the Lord, but our hearts are far from God.
Righteousness and justice are vacant. They're absent. They're not present. than all the external trappings involved in our Christianity are for naught. That's the emphasis, and I hope you see that in Proverbs 21.3.
To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to God than sacrifice. In other words, to see that moral law and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do those things and to maintain fidelity with reference to God and with reference to one another. So back to this particular passage, verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These, O God, you will not despise.
But now notice how he ends the psalm. Do good in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then you shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering.
Then they shall offer bowls on your altar. Bridges makes the observation. He says that God has accepted the moral without the ceremonial, but never the ceremonial without the moral observance. That's the emphasis in Proverbs chapter 21, verse 3.
To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Now, why is this the case?
Why the Moral Takes Priority
Well, I would suggest two reasons. First, The tendency of man to focus on the externals of religion to the neglect of the internal heart disposition. Let me just repeat that. The tendency of man to focus on the externals of religion to the neglect of the internal heart disposition.
In other words, just tell me what I need to do. It's like those people in Micah. Just tell us what we need to do. How do we get God off our back?
External compliance to that ceremonial law will hopefully appease him enough so that we don't have to deal with it, or we don't have to think about it. So there is this attempt to dispossess, in the lives of the professing people of God, the internal heart disposition by focusing on external compliance. And then there's one step even further, and that is the tendency of man to focus on the externals in order to mask the absence of those things. In other words, he knows that he doesn't do righteousness and justice.
He knows that he is vacant of any sort of compliance with the law of God. And so outwardly, hypocritically, he wants to portray himself as something other. In fact, go back to Proverbs chapter 7 for just a moment. I'm sure we considered this particular woman when we looked at the sin of adultery in Solomon's school of wisdom.
But if you look at Proverbs 7.10, well, Proverbs 7.6, For at the window of my house, I looked through the lattice and saw among the simple. I perceived among the youths a young man devoid of understanding, passing along the street near her corner. And he took the path to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night. And there a woman met him with the attire of a harlot and a crafty heart.
She was loud and rebellious. Her feet would not stay at home. At times she was outside, at times in the open square, lurking at every corner. So she caught him and kissed him.
With an impudent face, she said to him, I have peace offerings with me. Today I have paid my vows. Well, goody for you. You've done the vow thing, you've got the peace offering thing, you've gone and satisfied the cultic requirement in terms of Yahweh's ordinance with reference to the ceremonial law, and all the while your husband is away on a business trip, and you've taken this simpleton, you've taken this fool, and now you are kissing him and inviting him back to your bed?
It's the same sort of thing that we see in the gospel narratives. Remember the Pharisees when they wanted to appeal to Pilate so that Jesus could be executed. They didn't want to go into the praetorium because it was a high holy day and they didn't want to defile themselves. They didn't want to get near that Gentile pagan palace for fear that they would be defiled.
All while they are conspiring to commit murder against the only innocent man that has ever lived. You see, it really is falling. to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Again, not that sacrifice is bad, but sacrifice engaged in or the externals of our religion carried out with no heart commitment to Yahweh, with no love or concern for others, it's a sham, it's hypocrisy, it's a fake.
Christ's Woes in Matthew 23
Now let's look at this emphasis in the ministry of Jesus. You can turn to Matthew's gospel, Matthew chapter 23. We see the exposition of Proverbs 21.3. Now we look at the emphasis in the ministry of our Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 23.
Matthew chapter 23 is somewhat similar to what I've already said Micah's doing. It's a covenant lawsuit. The Lord Christ is prosecuting that with reference to the religious leaders of his time, the apostate religious leaders of his time. He warns the people, he warns the disciples about these men in the first part of the chapter.
He then cautions his disciples about not being like them. Don't be like these Pharisees that want to be sort of seen by men and paraded by men. And then Jesus turns his attention specifically to these scribes and Pharisees and he pronounces a series of woes upon them. Now, a woe is just the opposite of a blessing.
In the Sermon on the Mount, he says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed there means good things, happy things, wonderful things. But in terms of a woe, it is a statement of condemnation. And again, Christ is functioning as a prophet.
Prophets before him did the same sort of thing. Isaiah was one of them. Habakkuk was one of them. They pronounced woes on those who were incorrigibly wicked against the living God.
So that's the larger context. He pronounces these woes and promises judgment ultimately upon these religious leaders. He then ends in chapter 23 with this lament over Jerusalem. And then chapter 24 is the Olivet Discourse, where he prophesies concerning the destruction of the temple in AD 70.
But the fifth woe sounds precisely like what Solomon says. The fifth, if you're in the King James tradition. There's a variant in verse 14. So the non-King James tradition, the non-TR has seven woes.
The King James and the new King James has eight woes. So by my reckoning, with reference to a new King James, we're looking at the fifth woe in verses 23 and 24. Notice what Jesus says. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.
He wouldn't be very popular today, would he? People couldn't stomach Jesus today. I mean, we can't say anything without somebody somewhere getting offended. I mean, it's really getting ridiculous.
It's going to be, you know, to the point where we can't open our mouths. Well, everybody else can, but not you Christians. Everybody else can say whatever it is they want, but you Christians, you just need to be quiet, because everything you say is hate speech. Everything you say is prejudicial.
Everything you say is bad. Well, that's sort of where we're heading, and I would suggest that if Jesus found himself on a modern college campus, there wouldn't be enough safe spaces for those delicate snowflakes. There wouldn't be enough safe space for someone that says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.
Neglecting the Weightier Matters
Notice what he says, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and 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. Notice in the first place the condemnation.
You pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law. Their emphasis was on tithing. And they had biblical warrant even for tithing seeds. I think it's difficult to sort of get this in one's head to consider a Pharisee on the night before the Sabbath weighing out seeds so that he could pay precisely 10%.
It's almost a caricature of the religious life. John Calvin said that they, with reference to tithing seeds, so as to make a display of extraordinary zeal for piety at the least possible expense. But there is biblical warrant, Leviticus 2730, and all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord.
So he says that you tithe the mint and the anise and the cumin, But then he highlights their neglect. They have neglected the weightier matters of the law. Now, that's Solomon's point, isn't it? To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Again, not that sacrifice is bad. Not that the externals involved with religion are bad. Not that the cult in the Old Covenant was bad. But it's better to obey God.
It's better to demonstrate that righteousness and justice. And in that posture, engage in the externals of our religion, and the Lord God is exalted and glorified and pleased by that kind of behavior. But they neglected the weightier matters of the law. Now, you might find that a bit puzzling.
You mean there are weightier matters of the law? Well, according to Jesus, there are. And tithing, mint, anise, and cumin are not them. Tithing, mint, anise, and cumin are not the weightier matters of the law.
The weightier matters of the law are justice, mercy, and faith. Turn over to Matthew 22 for just a moment to see this emphasis on weightier matters of the law. Matthew 22 at verse 34, but when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him and saying, teacher, which is the great commandment?
Notice what Jesus doesn't do. Well, they're all equally important. They're all the same. It's egalitarian.
Every single one is precisely the same. That's not what Jesus says. The first, the greatest, the most prioritized commandment is that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is like it.
Love your neighbor as yourself. There is a pecking order within the law of God, and there is a pecking order within the division of the law of God wherein it's better to do righteousness and justice than to sacrifice. God is more pleased with that. So when we go back to this condemnation, you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, namely justice and mercy and faith.
I would suggest that was both tables of the Ten Commandments, justice and mercy with reference to men and faith with reference to God. So they pay the tithe of mint, anise, and cumin, and they neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. Spurgeon said their hearts were not right in the sight of God, therefore their minds were imbalanced. Again, think about this for just a moment.
You're prepared to go to church on Sunday, and you weigh out seeds. You weigh out seeds so that you can satisfy the external requirement to fulfill the tithe law. Again, that's not bad, and we'll look at that in just a moment. But on the way, you've neglected justice, mercy, and faith.
You hold fellow brothers and sisters in contempt. You're gossip. You're a liar. You're a slanderer.
You're engaged in that sort of a mindset. You think God is ultimately pleased with your mint anise and cumin when you haven't treated your neighbor with justice, mercy, and faith? Everybody sees this, don't you? I'm not preaching confusing stuff here.
I think it's pretty easy and simple to sort of lay hold on. Brethren, we cannot be this way. We cannot focus on the externals to the neglect of the internal. Or what do we often refer to this as?
We refer to it as majoring on the minors. Way out the mint, way out the anise, way out the cumin. but neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith."
The Both-And of Obedience
Now notice, Christ qualifies what he says here. You pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith. But notice what he goes on to say. These you ought to have done, the tithing of the mint and the anise and the cumin.
These you ought to have done, tithing the mint and the anise and the cumin. That's not what Christ is condemning. Christ is condemning the one to the neglect of the other. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone.
The Lord does not condemn their tithing practice. These you ought to have done. Matthew Henry comments here. 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.
At least the Pharisees did pay tithes of mint, anise, and cumin. But the Lord is condemning their obvious imbalance. They weigh these things out carefully to present them on the Sabbath day, to satisfy the tithe requirement, and yet all the while they neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. R.T.
Frantz 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. Not that we leave those seemingly insignificant things undone. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. You see, holiness, righteousness, our obedience to God must be universal.
It must be across the board. It must be in every jot and tittle of our lives. We don't pick and choose. We don't say, well, I'm going to be really good at the externals.
I'm going to show up at church. I'm going to read my Bible. But I'm going to neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. But on the other hand, we can't be those out contending for social justice-ism, gauged in justice, mercy, and faith, and neglect the seemingly insignificant things, like we need to go to church.
We need to obey God in the ceremonies. We need to be baptized. We need to practice the supper. It's not just an either-or, but a both-and obedience that the Lord God calls us to.
So Solomon is not minimizing the place of the ceremonial, but Solomon is prioritizing the place of the moral. We must obey God to do righteousness, and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice.
Blind Guides: Gnats and Camels
Now, before we conclude with some thoughts, I want to just look at verse 24, because it's brilliant. Not that Jesus needs me to commend him on his brilliance, but blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Now, this would have been funny, probably, to most people hearing it.
In Aramaic, camel and gnat sound very similar. There would have been a smirk, a giggle, a chuckle, not by the Pharisees, mind you, because they would be offended, but everybody else that had half a brain would have thought, that's funny. Blind guides. They're blind guides and they're straining out gnats.
Think about the imagery here. They would strain out the gnats. Why? Because nobody wants gnats in their wine.
Nobody wants to drink gnats. Gnats were considered unclean. So this was a good practice on their part to strain out the gnats, just like tithing. Mint, anise, and cumin.
But conversely, they swallow camels, you see. In their fastidiousness, keep all those gnats out, but in the meantime, they're swallowing camels. Now, it was wrong to swallow a camel because a camel was an unclean thing, according to Leviticus chapter 11. just like neglecting the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. You see, Jesus uses this hyperbolic statement to condemn them, to show them their insanity, to show them that they are ludicrous in the way they go about religious observance.
You strain out gnats, and you swallow the camel. Any kid would have heard that and would have laughed. Oh, imagine that, somebody swallowing a camel. It was funny.
Jesus made his point using a humorous anecdote, and that's not the only place he does that. He does it elsewhere in Scripture.
Application
Well, in terms of some concluding thoughts, I want us to prioritize or understand that Solomon is prioritizing the moral law. Now, the ceremonial law has been fulfilled by Jesus Christ. That ceremonial law given to Israel in terms of types and shadows pointing us forward to the Lord Christ has been fulfilled by him. So there's no longer a cult associated with the covenant people.
There's no longer a sacrificial system. There's no longer the sorts of things that you find, say, in the book of Leviticus or Numbers or Deuteronomy. That stuff is not still for us in terms of covenant. There are externals connected to our religious observance, and we never ought to prioritize those over and against doing righteousness and justice.
We need to prioritize God's moral law. Secondly, with reference to the concept in Matthew chapter 23, there is a tendency in us to major on the minors. A tendency to major on the minors. We all get a B in our bonnet and we think it's the most important thing in the world.
Now, maybe you don't, but I've met a few of them that does, and I've had it in my own life. You can look at sort of your Christian life and go, what was I thinking over here? Man, that was a weird phase. You know, we just get this in us, and it's everything.
If we just get this right. I've heard that multiple times in my 22 years here. And, you know, people say, not just here, but elsewhere, you hear it outside. You know, if the church could just get this right, then everything would be fixed.
If the church could just get rid of Sunday school, for instance, then everything would be great. If the church could just get rid of, you know, wine and communion, then everything would be great. That's not the way it is. It's never that simple.
Again, holiness is wholesale. It's wholesale, rather. It is universal. There's a lot of stuff the church needs to always be about cleaning up.
But there is this emphasis on the minors that somehow attaches itself to the professing people of God. A few observations. The minors are not unimportant, and they must be intended to. You've tied the mint, anise, and the cumin.
You should have not done that. You should do that, but you shouldn't neglect the other things. So the minors in our religion are important, and we need to obey. The minors are minors and should not be obsessed over to the neglect of the majors.
Let's say you've got this bee in your bonnet that if everybody just did what you think what was right, and it's a preferential or a secondary or tertiary issue, and you run roughshod over the people of God, you neglect justice, mercy, and faith for your key issue, That is to fall into the Pharisaic practice that Christ condemns. Calvin says, Christ charges the scribes with a 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. As well, the majors and the minors must not be neglected, but both should be practiced by the believer. It's good that they tied the mint, anise, and the cumin.
The problem is that they neglected the weightier matters of the law. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice, but doing righteousness and justice and sacrifice is most pleasing to Yahweh. As well, the minors may be obsessed over to mask the neglect of the majors. And I think that's precisely the sin of Pharisaism that Christ is condemning here.
These are not nice men. These are not good men. These are not happy, well-adjusted fellows. These are not genuine shepherds that are tasked with leading Israel in their religious life.
They are corrupt. They exploit widows for their own pockets. A widow loses her husband. She goes to a trusted official.
She goes to a trusted ecclesiastical official. She asks a Pharisee or a scribe to give her some help in terms of estate planning, or how do I manage my finances? Well, you give me a nice big deposit, and I'll get you on your way. That is exploitation.
It's vile, and it's wicked. And that's the sort of things these guys did. And yet, they'd stand on street corners and engage in long prayers. They would sound the trumpet whenever they tithed.
They would make sure they had anise and cumin and the seeds that came from the land. They had all that, but it was to mask the absence of this righteousness and justice that was requisite. As well, there is a tendency for us, the professing people of God, to neglect the weightier matters. We major on the minors and we forget about justice, mercy, and faith.
Now again, I don't think this is just a Pharisaic sin. I think that this can happen with the professing people of God. The people of God. Not just professing people of God, but genuine blood-bought believers can fall prey to this expression of Pharisaism.
C.H. Spurgeon made this observation. He said, there are gnat strainers among us still who apparently have no difficulty in swallowing a camel, hump and all. He's right.
There are gnat strainers among us still who apparently have no difficulty in swallowing a camel, hump, and all. With reference to this tendency to neglect the weightier matters, on the one hand, we boast of our supposed acts of piety, we Facebook them, we tweet them, and yet we neglect the weightier matters of justice, mercy, and faith. You don't need to tell people you're giving. You don't need to tell people you're good works.
You don't need to tell people what you've accomplished religiously in the week. You need to be faithful to God, obey Him, and understand that your good works are ultimately for His glory and for the person that is the target of that good work. It's not to bring accolades to us. There is that innate craving desire to be recognized, isn't it?
We just want to make sure. I do this with my wife. Honey, I did the dishes. Not so much anymore, because as the kids are gone, that's just my job.
I'm happy to do it. She makes good food. I should just wash dishes. I think that's a good thing.
But when the kids were at home, and I would do so, I'd always make sure I got credit. What is it about credit that we crave it? We just desire it, but God the Lord says, don't do that. Do what you're supposed to do for the glory of God and the good of others, not for self-exaltation, not to puff oneself up.
As well, we are obsessed with our shibboleths. We are obsessed with our periphery. We are obsessed with those things that are unique to us as Reformed Baptists. And yet, we neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith.
Now, I'm happy with the shibboleths that we have. I'm happy with the particular distinctives that we enjoy as Reformed Baptists. But brethren, let us not tithe the mint, anise, and the cumin and neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. As well, we, like the hypocrites in Matthew 23, are oftentimes imbalanced in our approach to the Christian life.
That's all Solomon is calling us to, is balance. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice. Again, don't take from that, well, I'll never sacrifice again. That's not what Solomon is saying.
Solomon is saying, definitely give heed to the moral law and then give heed to the ceremonial law. That is the priority. That is the order. As well, we criticize persons.
We really do this. We criticize persons for failing to devote the same attention to the particular minor things we have chosen to devote ourselves to. And we get this bee in our bonnet. We think everybody else needs to have the same bee in their bonnet.
No, the bee in everybody's bonnet is to do righteousness and justice. If in that, you then go off on a tangent and engage in some particular thing that's good and legit and fine, don't make that everybody's mission. That tendencies out there, isn't it? Well our church does this so every church must do this now There are three things that every church must do and those three things are preach the word Administer the sacraments and engage in church discipline those three things every church must do those are Non-negotiable those are the marks of the church and if a church doesn't do those things it is no church Or it's a very deficient one that needs to repent but a lot of the other sorts of things Good things?
Fine, go ahead. But be careful about making your bee in your bonnet, everybody else's bee in their bonnet. That is a way, a surefire way, to neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. I fear at times, now for you I cannot make this statement, but for me, that there is a similarity with reference to these hypocrites in straining out gnats and swallowing camels.
To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice, brethren.
Christ's Righteousness Imputed
And the final observation or the final point I want to make is in Hebrews chapter 10. You can turn there. I quoted Psalm 40 earlier as an illustration of the emphasis by God upon Israel in terms of obedience. Well, the apostle Paul takes up Psalm 40 in verses 5 to 7 in Hebrews chapter 10.
And here I just want to end on this wonderful note. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice. Praise God for Jesus Christ. Now, that does not minimize the emphasis for us having, by God's grace and the empowering of His Holy Spirit, the duty to comply.
But brethren, we know we don't comply as we ought. We know that our doing of righteousness, our duty to God, and our doing of justice, our duty to man, is less than stellar on the best of days. So we, with J. Gresham Machen, ought to say, I am so thankful for the imputed righteousness of the active obedience of Christ, because there's no hope without it.
It is the active obedience of Jesus Christ that is imputed to God's people. It's received by faith alone. See, God not only forgives us in the gospel, but he clothes us in the righteousness of Jesus. And that's how Paul appeals to Psalm 40 in Hebrews chapter 10.
Notice in verse 5, Therefore, when he came into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said," this is Christ, "'Behold, I have come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do your will, O God.'" You see, it's not just the case that we need to be forgiven, but we need to be righteous. To obey is better than sacrifice.
To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to God than sacrifice. We need forgiveness, but we need to be clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and we can praise God for the imputation of that to us, and it's received by faith alone. This often goes overlooked with reference to the gospel scheme of salvation. Not many people echo J.
Gresham Machen on the deathbed saying, I am so thankful for the act of obedience of Jesus Christ, for there's no hope without it. See, Machen rightly understood that if he was forgiven of his sin, but he had not received this righteousness, then he's back at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And it's up to him to obey. It's up to him to secure his place.
It's up to him to confirm himself in a state of righteousness. But the gospel is glorious. The gospel not only provides for us forgiveness, but it also provides a righteousness that avails with God. You see this emphasis in Galatians chapter 2.
The apostle says, I do not set apart the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. What's the point? We need righteousness. and the righteousness that we need isn't going to come through the law because we're terrible and we disobey that law. If that were the case, then Christ died in vain.
The death of Jesus Christ secures for us both forgiveness and righteousness. And to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. And we ought to praise God that we have a perfect righteousness, judicially speaking, positionally speaking. But in terms of our practical obedience to the Lord, we ought to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit and a love for God's law so that we will. not neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for Solomon's words. We thank you for this constant theme throughout scripture. And we thank you for the provision of a righteousness in our Lord, Jesus Christ. As Paul says elsewhere, you made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
We give praise to you for this Lord's day. We give praise to you for this time where we get to come out of the world and into the presence of our great God. And Father, we have rejoiced today in these baptisms this morning. We have rejoiced in our time together, our communion as saints with one another.
And I pray that you would go with us now, watch over us in this coming week, and help us, God, to glorify you. And we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation and then be dismissed.