Righteousness Exceeding Scribes/Pharisees

In this part of the sermon: Martin reconstructs the scene, imagining the shock and defeat Jesus's statement would have caused, comparing it to an aspiring athlete or singer being told they must exceed their…

An aspiring baseball player is told he must exceed Mickey Mantle's ability to enter the major league, illustrating the crushing weight of Jesus's words to those who idolized the Pharisees.

There's a fellow who's just been looked at by some of the scouts. He's a player, say, at Cheaton Hall or somewhere else, a baseball player.

15:52 - 15:59 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin reconstructs the scene, imagining the shock and defeat Jesus's statement would have caused, comparing it to an aspiring athlete or singer being told they must exceed their…

A young singer is told she must exceed Leontine Price's ability to even begin, further illustrating the shattering effect of Jesus's statement on his hearers.

How would he feel if the scout came along and said, look, to begin with, you won't even start unless your ability exceeds your highest idol. Suppose someone should come to some budding young singer who feels maybe she's got a little natural talent. And some talent...

16:37 - 16:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Check the foundation upon which you rest, asking if you have seen yourself so vile as to look for mercy nowhere but in Christ.

Martin shares his recent experience of being with people on the brink of death, which renewed his determination to plead with his congregation to check the foundation of their faith.

Nothing, nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. I fear for some of you that you rest upon a false foundation. And I've faced death this week.

30:34 - 30:50 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second defect is their construction of righteousness based on wrong principles, primarily being more concerned with the external than the internal. Jesus's words about…

Principles are compared to the beams, floor joists, and studs of a house, illustrating how wrong principles lead to a defective structure of righteousness.

Is that where you came this morning? Then the second thing defected in the righteousness of the scribes and of the Pharisees was that they not only rested on a wrong foundation, but get this now, they constructed their righteousness out of wrong principles. The principles are like the beams in a house. They're like the floor joists and the studs in the wall.

32:54 - 33:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be so glad about not doing certain things (details) that you lack hunger for God and miss the great principles of faith and living for eternity.

The Jewish practice of straining wine to remove gnats is explained, then contrasted with the Pharisees' spiritual blindness in missing great principles while focusing on minute details.

Jesus said, and it's almost ironical. In fact, there is, there's a bitter irony in this. He said, oh, you blind Pharisees, you strain out gnats and you swallow camels. Now, you see, when the Jewish man would tramp out his wine, there'd be a big, large stone that was hollowed out, and they'd put the, the grapes in, and there was a hole at the side, and the men would get in and trample it with their feet.

40:44 - 41:11 Read in full sermon

The point: Gear your life in the light of what's to come, living for the world to come rather than being absorbed in the world of time.

The example of a missionary dying of malnutrition due to lack of support highlights the worldliness of American Christianity that prioritizes personal luxuries over the great issues of faith and missions.

The call goes out from mission boards during the summer months. Giving falls off. Missionaries rock. You read the article in the Christian periodical that a missionary died of malnutrition on one of our mission fields.

43:42 - 43:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Let living to God's glory be the motivating factor that reaches out and touches every area of your life, including eating and drinking.

Martin shares a story about a church in New Hampshire whose problem isn't outward vice but a lack of love and trust, illustrating the neglect of 'weightier matters' despite adherence to details.

Frankly, this thing troubles me. My dear uncle came down. We had visitors for him come in last night around 8 o'clock from New Hampshire.

47:20 - 47:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine your motives for religious exercises, such as attending church: is it for selfish reasons (peace of conscience, reputation) or because you love God and desire to please Him?

Robert Murray M'Cheyne's confession, 'The lust of praise has ever been my besetting sin,' is quoted to show that even the holiest men struggle against the motive of self-glory, contrasting it with the Pharisees who nursed this pride.

One of the greatest, one of the greatest curses of the human heart. The holiest men who've ever lived cry out against it. I've been reading from my own prophet Robert McMurray McShane's biography again. And McShane said words like these, The lust of praise has ever been my besetting sin.

51:53 - 52:11 Read in full sermon