luke 11 37-44
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Becoming clean before God
Becoming clean before God
title-becoming clean before God
luke 11 verse 37-44
joke- dirty dishes --- as clean as cold water could get em
dog wouldnt let him leave so the grandpa yelled… cold water stop barking and let him leave.
sometimes we think we are clean before God
because we do good things
This is the line of thinking in almost every religion besides christianity.
People feel the need to clean themselves up morally in order to please God.
there is a common thought that if we can tilt the scale of good and evil in our life
than God will accept us...
What most people fail to realize is that God is more concerned with the internal state of the heart
and the only way we can get clean before God
is if He washes our heart for us.
please open up your bibles to luke 11 verse 37
And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.
Jesus is invited to eat with the religious leaders
When Jesus sat down to eat, He neglected to wash His hands.
now the religious leaders were not concerned for his health
They were frustrated that this holy man did not observe their ceremonial practice of hand washing.
they would pour water over there hands 3 times and wash to cleanse themselves before God
But Jesus knew this is not what makes you clean before God
He paid no attention to it
and when they marveled at Him
it wasnt in the way we usually mean it....
they were taken back and enraged
Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.
Jesus rebukes the pharisees for emphasizing the external rule keeping
while neglecting the purity of their heart.
Jesus tells them the outside looks great
but the more important part
the inside of the person
is full of greed and wickedness
God is concerned with both
He made the external and the internal
Yet God is most concerned with the heart
He states that If you give Him your heart
If your inward is right with God
then it doesnt matter if you observe the ceremonial washing or not
you will be clean before Him by faith and not works
This did not sit well with the religious people because their entire life
is surrounded by earning Gods favor through religious practices.
Jesus is now saying,
God is not impressed with your religious piety.
They were like that guy on the church softball field
He has the nicest bat, the expensive cleats, the coolest uniform.
and then He goes up to bat and strikes out.
It may look good to some people
but once you get exposed, your not that impressive.
Jesus lays into the pharisees in verse
“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.”
Woe is a denunciation of horror
like saying destruction to you pharisees
they are giving a tithe - 10 %
you give 10 % of your spices and herbs
but what do you withold....
your neglecting Justice and the love of God.
These religious leaders are treated like royalty.
They have lots of goods, the get tons of respect, they are the ones seen as ultra holy and respected
Yet Jesus calls them hypocrites
because they portray that they are holy men of God
yet they are inwardly far from God.
because of their hypocrisy, they lead many to destruction by way of deception
and He uses the visual of men walking over unseen graves
this would make a jew ceremonial unclean and they would not realize it because they came into contact with a dead body
this brings us to our first point in becoming clean before God
Try to please God and not man
Try to please God and not man
Jesus did not try to do anything extrabiblical to get praise of men
However we see the phariesees almost make a sport out of this.
Who could get the best seat in the house,
Who could restrict themselves the most on the sabbath,
who could fast the longest...
paul says this in
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Many times we seek the approval of man because were afraid
there is pressure from the outside to conform into the image of
the world around us.
we get tempted to do this because we want to look good
but this comes from showing off the outside of your cup.
This leads us into hypocrisy.
the outside is conformed to please others, but the inside of your soul is neglecting God.
there is a spiritual peer pressure at times to want to please man
but they way we overcome this is by looking into His word and obeying it
over everything else.
It reminds me of evangelism
How many times people have told me not to go out and do it.
its rude, your annoying people, dont bug them at the park....
or,, your doing it wrong.
But what does the word say....
preach the gospel,,, do the work of an evangelist...
theres an old saying that goes, I like my way of evangelising better than your way of not.
Let God wash your heart and your obedience will follow
Let God wash your heart and your obedience will follow
God is most concerned with what is going on in your heart
this is the main theme of this passage
most people are concerned with how they look on the outside
this is why the gyms are full of members and the libraries are full of kids
people will always connect the physical action of good works with approval from God.
but lets look at what His word says.
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Jesus has called sinners
He is looking for people who know they are sinners and who look to Him for mercy,
Q. Do you realize this. that your sin is crippling to the human soul and your only hope is the mercy of Christ.
one of the biggest traps we can fall into is to think that we can
be right with God by earning His favor.
We end up like the pharisee by looking bright and shiny on the outside
but neglect the peace and love of God on the inside
So Jesus wants you to focus on the heart
by focusing on getting your heart right with God, everything else will fall into place.
then the question is
Q. How do we get our heart right with God.
Its the same way weather your an unbeliever or if you have been walking with Him for 100 years.
you simply give it to Him.
you need to daily Give Jesus your heart
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
You need a heart of flesh for God to work with.
This speaks of the born again experience
but we need to live in this every day.
If your heart is tender to the things of the Lord
the inside of your cup will be clean
because the holy spirit will be there.
I remember being afraid to give my heart to Jesus
Because the outside of my cup was very dirty.
I told a friend I would give Jesus a try after I got clean and sober.
I had this thought ---Jesus doesnt want me
And I had this though because of the message of the pharisee
this false message that Jesus wants the ouside cleaned up in order to be loved by Him
but dear friends
its not your Job to clean the cup at all
That Job is reserved for God almighty.
It is our duty to simply Give it to Him
Are you struggling this morning?
are you falling short?
Join the club.
stop trying to please the people around you.
start looking at what pleases God
and stop trying to figure it out on your own.
Give Jesus the cup .
and let Him wash your heart.
pray