The Word Betrayed
Notes
Transcript
Open your Bibles to Luke 11:45-54
While you are turning there.
I don’t understand the purpose of parallel bars.
They used to be on playgrounds.
You don’t see them much anymore.
But they had them at Wilson Morgan Park.
I remember, because I had an unforgettable encounter.
I was therewith my mom and brother,
swinging away on the swing at the backof the park.
It was time to go, my mother called out.
This turned into a sibling rivalry
over who could get to the finish line of Mom’s car first.
I’m confident that I would have won.
I remember running. I remember my eyes becoming blurry.
I remember seeing something off in the distance,
a straight line, if you will.
And then, the next thing I know,
a big thud, I’m knocked down,
and family rushing over to ask what happened….
Well, I had somehow run full speed,
face-first, into the parallel bars.
Something similar is happening here.
With the religious zealots.
The Pharisees and the Lawyers, really, they are scribes.
Who are so zealous to keep the law.
Attempt to run to the finish.
Somewhere along the way, their vision is clouded;
they aren’t seeing straight.
Jesus warns them:
they are running straight into judgment,
and they don’t see it coming.
The turn from the Pharisees towards the lawyers in this text
is going to take a turn towards the use of God’s word,
his commands and precepts, and their distortion of it,
to become a club and baton, rather than a key to life!
The same could be said about the Law of God.
And Jesus focuses on their distortion of God's law.
Historically speaking, there are three primary uses of God’s law.
The first is a mirror, in that it reveals to us our sin.
It’s meant to be a schoolmaster, showing our filth and pointing us to Christ.
Second, it is like a curb, intended to restrain evil.
It is a moral guide to restrain sin.
Like a bridle on a horse. It doesn’t change the horse’s nature.
But prevents it from running wild.
And then thirdly, like a map or a lamp.
In that, for the believer, it shows us how to live in a way that honorsGod.
It cannot give us life, but it illumines the way
to life in Christ and living in a way that reflects God’s character.
These strikes are the heart
of what the Pharisees and Lawyers are getting wrong.
They were taking God’s word and were maligning it.
They turned the mirror into a weapon
to point at everyone else, but NOT at themselves.
They consider the word of the prophets to restrain evil,
and they instead put them to death.
And they took the map and key
to communion with God throughHis word,
and they locked it away so no one could have access.
It’s this distortion of the law of God,
the word of God, that Jesus is correcting.
Sermon Summary: Submit to the Word, don’t weaponize it.
45 One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” 46 And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48 So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. 52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” 53 As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.
This is God’s word, let’s pray.
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I. The Word Overlorded: The Cruelty of Legalism (v.45-46)
I. The Word Overlorded: The Cruelty of Legalism (v.45-46)
You recall that Jesus has been invited
into the home of a Pharisee.
And they were astonished and offended
that Jesus did NOT wash before dinner.
There was nothing in the law that required that,
but they insisted on it.
Jesus has just delivered three woes to the Pharisees.
They were the religionist.
They were insistent on a strict religious code.
And Jesus woes to them were
(1). You are clean on the outside,
but inside, you are filled with corruption.
(2) You major on the minors and
neglect the weightier issues of the law.
(3) You claim to be clean, but you are like graves,
filled with deadness and defile others.
These words struck deep. It got them all worked up.
In fact, it didn’t just rile the Pharisees up.
It got the lawyers worked up as well.
Because they lawyer, also known as scribes,
were the legal experts.
They prided themselves on knowing the Torah.
They build meticulous arguments
around the law and building regulations.
And the Pharisees and the scribes were
kind of like the 1-2 punchers of Judaism.
They always had a way of pinning people into submission.
Except Jesus.
He is delivering some hard blows
to the heart of the Pharisees,
and the lawyers know it’s aimed at them, too.
And so, they, too, are offended.
They are insulted.
The word that’s used there is the word“insult”
often means to be mistreated, it means to be shamed.
Which likely signals their guilt and association with Jesus words.
But what we will see is that they, too,
couldn’t handle the critique they so often gave to others.
And rather than examining their own heart, they get it wrong.
They can’t get past the rub and move towards repentance.
I mean, this is the Lord speaking to them,
to give correction, and they can’t receive it.
They can’t listen.
They are instead doubling down.
Which, for the careful reader,
already signals their heart posture toward the word of God.
It’s way off.
45 One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” 46 And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
The Horror, THE DISASTER! To you also.
Just like the Pharisees would love
to work the law to their advantage.
Lawyers, you are also using the law in a way
that NOT only dishonors God but also brings harm to others.
You remember that the Pharisees’ offense against Jesus
was their moral code for hand washing.
Well, the Lawyers and Pharisees had taken the law of God
and manufactured their own law code to provide
a cover of protection for breaking God’s law.
In fact, it likely became a system of some 6,000-plus additional laws
created to govern men's behavior.
And so, Luke uses a phrase here:
you are loading people with burdens hard to bear.
Literally, you burden people with burdens.
And the word there for burden is a word for CARGO.
In fact, Luke uses this word in Acts 27:10 to speak of the load on a ship.
And Jesus says, you are piling on religious duties
that are weighing so heavily on people,
it’s crushing them and driving them away from God.
You’ve already seen this at work
on the Sabbath in Luke 6 and Luke 11.
They had taken what God intended
as good and a delight (Exodus 20, and Gen 2),
and they turned it into a burden.
They had classified some 39 classifications of labor
that were forbidden in order to keep the Sabbath.
Disciples can’t pick grain on the Sabbath,
and Jesus can’t heal a man with a withered hand.
NOT because Jesus was violating the Sabbath,
but because he was violating the burden
the lawyers had made the Sabbath for others.
The Mishnah even had a section on how
to properly carry burdens on the Sabbath,
and anything heavier than a fig was a burden.
And what they were doing
was taking God’s word and erecting
their own commands in its place.
And it was crushing the people.
No one could live up to it!
It would be a crushing weight of the law for anyone.
And they were twisting God’s law
that was good and distorting the mirror.
They were erecting their own rules in its place,
but refused to stand under it themselves.
You are piling on these rules and regulations,
but you won’t do them yourselves!!
You demand them from others,
but you won’t submit to them yourselves.
We do this more often than we think.
Privately, when we think our work or deeds
are what regulate our relationship with God,
rather than the finished work of Jesus.
That we read our bible, so God must be more pleased.
We have a quiet time, so God is pleased.
We dress a certain way and avoid certain things.
We parent a certain way, educate a certain way.
It’s NOT that those standards are bad,
but we must be careful those don’t become our savior.
We do this outwardly
when we measure others by our standards.
And look at others as if they need to get it right, like you.
And we expect more from others than we give ourselves.
That’s the cruelty of legalism.
It builds up thousands of subrules in the place of God’s word.
And insist on their way, rather than God’s way.
It refuses to practice what it preaches.
They created the rules, they knew all the loopholes,
and they knew how to craft their way out of any argument.
They could wiggle out on a technicality.
They became the arbitrator, judge, and law to others.
And Jesus says, your crushing people!!
And that’s what legalism does.
It crushes. It binds. It destroys.
It places weights and shackles that rob us of joy.
And often, it becomes a weapon against others.
Some of you aren’t crushing others—you feel crushed.
You feel like no matter what you do, it’s never enough.
And instead of drawing near to God, you feel tired… even distant.
But Jesus, the true word, offers something so much better.
Much more liberating than cruelty.
His commands are NOT burdensome,
but a delight. It should be our joy to walk in them as Christians.
NOT to justify ourselves,
but to live in the power of the Spirit in the way that honors the Lord.
Because the load they refused to lift. Jesus carries.
The load they refuse to carry, Jesus took on Himself.
That burden of legalism that intends to crush us.
Jesus restores and frees us from the yoke of bondage.
------------------------------- The Word Overlorded
II. The Word Masked: The Hypocrisy of Religiosity (v.47-48)
II. The Word Masked: The Hypocrisy of Religiosity (v.47-48)
Jesus gives a 2nd rebuke to the Lawyers.
Notice what they are doing here.
Where God’s word was intended to restrain evil.
It was the religious zeal that fueled violenceagainst the prophets.
47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48 So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.
The HORROR, Jesus says!!
Now, on the surface, it appears these lawyers were aiding in their honor.
Building tombs was a pious act.
It was a way to demonstrate honor to Israel’s former prophets.
But it was also a way to atone for their fathers’ sins.
It was essentially like blood money.
And according to the law of Moses, Numbers 35:30-31
30 “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 31 Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death.
Even if they thought they were making up for the past,
God’s law makes clear that guilt isn’t erased by gestures.
And all throughout Israel’s history,
God sent prophets to his people, to give them the word.
So that they might repent and align their ways before the Lord.
But often that word was rejected by the people.
The prophets came and preached words
they did NOT want to listen to or heed their message,
and so, rather than listen, they put them to death.
The issue isn’t just what they did to the prophets—
it’s that they still reject the same message.
And Jesus says you think you are somehow
now honoring the prophets by providing some religious cover for your deeds.
Yet, the same Spirit that sought
to put the prophets to death is at work in you.
For you have no desire to listen to the word,
you’d rather establish your own!
And you are continuing in the same spirit of your forefathers.
You are finishing the job that the former generation started.
And Jesus says – you are witnesses, and you give consent and approval
to your fathers in putting the prophets to death.
You want to act like you are honoring the prophets,
when really what you are doing
is putting on a religious garb of piety
that exposes the wickedness of your heart.
This is what Israel has always done.
Stephen shows this wasn’t a one-time problem—
it’s the consistent pattern of a hardened heart.
Hear Stephen in Acts 7.
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
And Jesus says, "You are NO different.
The only prophet that is good to you is a dead one.
So, their words won’t trouble you any longer.”
But they sure had a cloak of religious zeal, didn’t they?
We are Israelites. We are the scribes.
The lawyers, we know the law.
We keep it. We add to it, we put on a show.
We honor the history of our traditions.
It was all smoke and mirrors.
A distraction from their true heart,
which were hardened against God like their forefathers.
You know, there is a way in which
we can practice the same type of righteousness.
Erect and outward faceted of righteousness,
but inwardly we are corrupted.
We put on religion. We put on hospitality.
We put on kindness. We put on the tradition of Christianity.
We ride on the coattails of other piety,
while our hearts are corrupted.
Maybe even erect fancy buildings and churches
that demonstrate outward religious, while the heart rots.
And the word is God is unheeded.
Because that’s what they didn’t truly want.
They didn’t want God to speak.
They didn’t want to listen to thus saithe the Lord.
Only their tradition. Only their own rules.
Jesus says, "You are consenting to the same evil of your traditions.
You are aiding in the death of the prophets.”
Refusing to heed the word of God and
refusing to surrender to the voice of God to His people.
Refusing to change your way.
Refusing to repent.
Only masking it through religiosity.
----------------------- The Word Masked
----------------------- The Word Masked
III. The Word Vindicated: The Act of Divine Judgment (v.49-51)
III. The Word Vindicated: The Act of Divine Judgment (v.49-51)
Where this evil and wicked generation
sought to quell God’s word.
The wordof God will never return void.
It will accomplish its purposes.
Jesus linkstheir deliberate rebellion againstthe word
and God’s sovereignty through the little word “therefore.”
49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.
The wisdom of God here is understood in a few different ways.
It could mean God's divine plan, in general.
And that’s certainly what is meant.
But when you read Matthew’s gospel.
He attributes this statement to imply that Jesus is the wisdom of God
. In other words, it is NOT from the mouth of the Father,
but from the lips of the Son.
And that squares nicely with Luke’s gospel as well.
Because it is Jesus, the wisdom of God personified.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Furthermore, it was the Spirit of Christ,
through whom all the prophets spoke.
This what Peter means when he says.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
And what John means in the book of Revelation 19:10
10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Luke 11:50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, ….
50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation,
In other words, there is a building that Jesus intends.
Namely, that all the prophets that God has sent.
In His wisdom, in the Spirit of Christ, you’ve rejected….
and you are still rejecting!!
Their blood was shed, and that word is in the perfect tense,
implying that it’s still being shed!
Jesus does this by showing the A-Z’s.
From the first to the last…
The first was Abel and last, Zechariah.
Abel pulls us all the way back to Genesis 4.
Abel was killed by his brother Cain,
who was of the EVIL one (1 John 3:12).
He was killed because his brother
was jealous of his offering that was accepted.
He was, in effect, the first martyr.
Listen to 1 John 3:12
12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
And Jesus is saying that the same evil spirit
is at work in you now!!
It’s the same spirit that sought to put Abel to death!!
And also, Zechariah.
Now there is some discussion about who this Zechariah is;
some say the prophet Zechariah,
but I’ll spare you the debate.
I take Luke to be referring to Zechariah the priest.
You read about it in 2 Chronicles 24:20-21.
He was killed for denouncing the people
for transgressing God’s commands.
He announced that because they had forsaken God, God had forsaken them.
His dying words - “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”
And he was stoned to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s Temple.
Solomon’s temple faced east,
and there in the front was the sanctuary,
and just a short distance stood the great altar of burnt offerings
on which animals were sacrificed.
And that is what Jesus means when he says here in verse 51
Luke 11:51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.
51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.
In other words, the stoning took place at Israel’s holiest sites.
He was slain out in the open.
It wasn’t in some hidden room or back corner
when no one was looking.
It was between the altar and the sanctuary.
Unashamed rebellion.
Unashamed wickedness!
And he was the last martyr mentioned chronologically in the Hebrew Bible.
FROM A -Z!
You wicked People have killed God’s messengers.
You’ve killed those who serve the Lord.
You’ve killed those who were innocent,
Who brought the word of God to bear on the hearts of men!!
And it’s just been building and building and building.
And you think you are accomplishing your ends.
Silencing God’s word!!
But this has ALL been a part of God’s plan!!
So much so, that all the prophets and messages of the word
are climaxing in a final TRUE MESSENGER….God’s SON!!
That is Jesus CHRIST!!
And that is what Jesus is pointing towards when he says
Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.
What type of Spirit is that that does this?
Answer. It is a wicked and evil people.
To come against God’s messenger and God’s word.
But Jesus says, You’ve always done this.
You did it to Abel.
The same Spirit that put Abel to death is in you.
You did to Zechariah,
and the same Spirit that put Zechariah the priest to death is in you.
And it will be required of this generation!!
Building toward their continued rejection of God’s word,
and they are still rejecting, and even rejecting John the Baptist….
and worse, Jesus….who is the true prophet.
He is the true priest of God’s people,
and the true king of God’s people.
Because it’s you who will reject and put to death God’s son!!
And Jesus says this will be God’s judgment against you.
You’ll do it, out in the open.
You’ll put the Christ to death for the whole world to see….
And you’ll think you’re doing God’s work.
Listen to this in John 16:2-3
2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.
2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.
You think you’re silencing a “blasphemer.”
You’ll think you’re protecting the purity of Israel.
You’ll think getting rid of some false messiah!
That is what evil does!
That is the seed of the serpent!
They seek to put to death the seed of women!!
And they think they are winning and doing God’s work…
They get rid of Jesus.
They put Him to death!!
It was the Pharisees and the Lawyers
who arrested Jesus in the middle of the night.
They brought false accusations against Him.
Dragged Him before Pilate.
Incited the crowd against Jesus!
And they took full responsibility for it.
Listen to what they say!! In Matthew 27:24-26
24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” 25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
And Jesus says,
"My blood is on your hands, and the blood of all the prophets is on your hands!!”
But God’s word will NOT return void!!
And the death and resurrection of Jesus
will prove to be God’s judgment against them.
That they didn’t put to death some phony.
They didn’t kill a fraud; they killed the MESSIAH!
They crucified Him.
His blood is on their hands.
That is wickedness! That is EVIL!!
And that judgment is immediate, for these people.
Likely speaking of the destruction of the temple and fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.
But it’s NOT just for them.
The judgment is for all those who reject God’s word and God’s Son today!
And if God did not spare that generation
when they rejected His Son…
What makes us think He will overlook it now?
To reject His Word is NOT just to disagree with teaching—
it is to resist the Son of God.
And that is NEVER a small thing.
But here is the mercy in it:
the very One who warns of judgment
is the One who went to the cross to bear judgment for sinners.
His blood was shed—
NOT only as a testimony against unbelief,
but as an offer of forgiveness for all who will repent and believe.
So, turn to Him.
NOT with pride,
NOT with excuses,
NOT with delay—but with repentance and faith.
Because God will NOT only judge the rejection of His Word…
He will also vindicate it.
----------------------- The Word Vindicated
----------------------- The Word Vindicated
IV. The Word Deprived: The Theft of the Gospel Key (v.52-54)
IV. The Word Deprived: The Theft of the Gospel Key (v.52-54)
We’ve seen how the Lawyers have taken the word, and they’ve twisted it.
They’ve taken the mirror of God’s law, added to it,
and then turned it upon everyone else,
while keeping it from reflecting on them.
They’ve taken the word of God,
which was intended to restrain evil,
and return them to following the Lord,
and they’ve rejected it, and only further evil
and violence against the prophets and Christ!
And now, they have used the word of God,
which was intended to light the path to God’s presence,
and they’ve taken the key and barred others from comingin.
52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”
52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”
Jesus is speaking here of their distortion
of the word of God and of His gospel.
The key to knowledge was revealed in the Word of God.
They controlled access to the true meaning of Scripture and,
in doing so, blocked entrance into the kingdom.
They claim to be experts in.
It should have opened the door for themselves and others
to enter the knowledge of God and communion with him.
But it didn’t. Instead, it closed it.
They refuse to enter God’s plan and be saved,
while also distorting interpretation
to keep others from truly knowing God.
This is what Jesus said in John 5:39-40
39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
And in explaining the word,
they would never point it towards its APEX!
Towards the final crescendo, namely towards salvation through Jesus Christ!
They never pointed people to the true Messiah.
Instead, they are pointing people away from Jesus.
They are telling people, He has a demon!
They aren’t neutral.
And they aren’t just trying to figure out Jesus.
They are against HIM!
And beloved, let me just say,
there is a right way to understand the scriptures.
And it is to see them fulfilled in Christ,
and in the covenant that God inaugurates through His Son.
Everything in the law and the prophets is headedthere.
That which was concealed in the Old Testament
has now been revealed in the New Testament through Jesus.
And they should have known this.
But they refused to enter through the door who is Christ.
They refused to see the scriptures fulfilled in Jesus,
and therefore, they refused to proclaim the scriptures as fulfilled in Jesus.
It’s why I aim to preach towards Christ!
And so should every Gospel preacher!
To see the apex of scripture culminating in Jesus and His redemptive work!
But these lawyers wouldn’t do it.
They were lacking personal belief in Jesus and
therefore were pastorally destructive towards others.
It was like taking the key to the knowledge of God’s word
and throwing it away, so no one else couldenter.
They couldn’t see Christ.
They couldn’t behold His gospel and His glory,
and therefore no one else could enter either!
And then, in a final twist of irony.
53 As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.
When Jesus gives this rebuke to the Pharisees and the Lawyers,
it should have served as a great warning to them.
It was intended to wake them up.
It was intended to reprove them and correct them!
But in a shocking twist of irony,
they couldn’t receive this correction from the word of Christ either!
And instead, they doubled down.
And rather than submitting to the word of Christ,
what did they do?
They sought to use it as a weapon against HIM!
And began to “press him hard”- means to bear ill will or hold a grudge.
“Provoke”- to closely question and interrogate.
To ask hostile questions. This is the work of evil.
“Lying in wait” - means to ambush, with intent to attack.
“To catch” means to hunt.
They are waiting on a slip.
They are waiting for something to stick to him
that will hold up to condemn him.
And it foreshadows what is coming soon at the cross.
When Jesus, whois the greater prophet, priest, and king,
will be put to death at the hands of a wicked and evil generation.
They hated Jesus for telling them the truth.
It only demonstrated that Jesus was correct.
And what Luke shows us in their response
is NOT just historical opposition—
it’s a mirror for how the human heart responds when confronted by truth.
And beloved, we ought to be very careful
when we hear the word of God.
That we listen to it.
That we heed it.
That is, it’s NOT just our offense.
But that after having been confronted by the truth of the word,
we seekto be conformed to the word of God.
Rather than fight against it.
Justify ourselves and seek to use it against others.
This is the work of the enemy. This is the posture of the evil one.
But that we would instead do as James tells us. In James 1:19-20
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
And that looks like heeding it. Receiving it.
And receive the one whom the scripture points.
Namely, Jesus Christ!!
NOT hardening your heart towardsHim!
And these lawyers, insisting on being right,
ran squarely into the judgment of God against them and their hardness of heart!
And rather than submitting to the word,
they sought to weaponize it.
Rather than being trained by it.
They sought to abuse others with it.
Rather than pointing to Jesus, they keptHim concealed from others.
Rather than curbing evil, they doubled down to live in evil.
They wouldn’t be able to confront their own heart
with the mirror of the world.
They wouldn’t repent from their evil ways
and be deterred from sin by the word of God.
And they refused to walk in the good path of the Light of Christ.
At every turn, they took the word of God
and maligned it for their own advantage.
And that forces the question on us:
What are we doing with the Word?
Are we letting it expose us like a mirror?
Are we letting it restrain us like a curb?
Are we letting it guide us like a lamp to Christ?
Letting it shape us, conform us.
Let it transform us, and the local church!
Or are we using it like they did—on others,
while staying untouched ourselves?
Because the danger here is NOT just misunderstanding Scripture
but resisting what Scripture is meant to do:
lead us to Christ and conform us to Him.
So, the call is simple: don’t weaponize the Word—
submit to it and let it lead you to Jesus.
Sermon Summary: Submit to the Word, don’t weaponize it.
