First Clean

Introduction

I remember the story told by an older preacher that he only had about a hundred sermons. And so you have to wonder how you make it for any period of time at a congregation with only 100 sermons. And he said, Well, I would just yell louder in different places. By my calculation, over nine years here, I’ve preached over eight hundred different sermons. I did repeat one sermon intentionally once. Extra credit for anybody who could remember that sermon that got preached twice. Of course, only a handful of you heard it twice. And if you don’t remember, nobody remembers it, I’m going to preach it again. But I’m just hoping one of these is going to work. You know, after eight. No, some of these sermons have worked.

Christina, I’m still working on her, but some of these sermons have worked through the nine years that I’ve been here. And if you don’t believe it’s been over 800, I can march you up to my office and show you the copies of all those lessons. And I say all of that to say this morning that in some way this morning’s lesson doesn’t break new ground, even though it is a new sermon. I did write it this week. But it’s material that you might be familiar with to some extent. We’ll be talking about it in a Sunday morning study very soon, maybe.

Matthew chapter 23. It is a captivating confrontation. That would certainly contribute to the Savior’s demise, his death at Calvary, as the resurrection of Lazarus had done as well. It is a most scathing denunciation. And if you want to look at some place throughout the ministry of Jesus where he really lets them have it, the first text that would come to mind is Matthew 23. And before I go there to talk about some of its points, I want you to know that at the conclusion of this scathing denunciation is a tremendous affirmation of the Savior’s love for these very same people. Oh Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I have wanted to gather her children, as a hen does her baby chickens.

But you were unwilling.

1. They Say Things and Do Not Do Them

It’s interesting that the narrative points out Jesus’ lament of what is and how much he wishes it were otherwise. We’ve noted about the Pharisees and this familiar expression, walk the talk. They were a lot more into the talking than the walking. As verse 3 points out, all that they tell you. I mean, the things that emanate from their lips about the righteousness of God and things that are good and right to do. He says, and those things that they tell you do and observe. They are saying to you right things. Right things are emanating from their lips, but don’t follow their behavior. Do not do according to their deeds, for they say things, and they do not do them. And thus the beginning of the charges that are now leveled in Matthew chapter 23.

They burden others but do little. They tie up heavy loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. Because they are far more concerned about other people noticing them, thus they make broad their phylacteries, little leather boxes that said, Oh my, I am such a spiritual person. Do you see? Wait a minute. Let me make that larger for you so that you can see it. They would make broad these leather pouches that had verses of scripture in them, so that everyone, oh, now those are really religious people. And then they lengthen the tassels of their garments, which would be a further indication, and they love the place of honor at the banquets, the spiritually elite, the chief seats in the synagogue, the respectful greetings in the marketplace, rabbi.

But do not be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers, and do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your father, he is who is in heaven, and do not be called leaders, for one is your leader, and that is Messiah or Christ. And then this heart check evaluation, which we would all do well to think about and ponder regularly. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Not the leader, not the self-exalted spiritual elite.

And whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. That’s what we’re aiming for here at this place in this lesson today. The humbling of ourselves before God, that we might indeed be exalted to an incredible measure by our God. I was reading in preparation for this, and several don’ts were spoken of in relation to just these few verses of Matthew chapter 23. I thought these were worthy of note. Don’t preach what you will not practice. Don’t put your piety on parade. Don’t profess religion for mere social benefits. Don’t let professionalism take God’s place. And don’t equate religious activity necessarily with godliness. Certainly, religious activity would coordinate with a person’s godliness or coincide with a person’s godliness, but the two don’t necessarily have to go together. And so don’t let that be true of your religious activity, that it is not also accompanied by godliness because it must.

Five important points just from the first part of this text in a sermon all by itself. But I’m not done.

2. Disadvantaging Others

Because he would go on to say after the heart evaluation, be careful. And I was testing to see if this was even a word, disadvantaging. Sort of hard to say, but I like it. It shortens what I had to say here, and I had not enough room. Disadvantaging others. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. You shut off the kingdom of heaven from men. That’s not to their advantage, is it? For you do not enter in yourselves, and you prevent other people from entering in. And then he says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, even while for a pretense you make long prayers. Very devoted to prayer, long prayers. Usually where others can see them. Long prayers, but let’s take advantage of some of the most hapless people in our world.

The widows, devour their houses, take from them, disadvantage them. He says, Therefore you shall receive greater condemnation. Your version of the Bible may have that verse marked. More on that in a moment, if I don’t forget. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte, and he becomes, when he becomes one, you know, you convert him to be your follower.

3. You Blind Guides

This is where it really starts to heat up, as he talks about then their blindness and their inconsistencies, even talking about how they say one thing, swear one thing, so they can do something else. How their tithing is inconsistent with the weaker matters of the law, justice, faithfulness, and mercy, in verse 23, concluding with this comment you blind guides. You who want to show other people God’s way, but suffer from spiritual blindness. You blind guides who strain out a gnat. You’re so focused on this little piece of minutiae in the law that is important. These things you ought to have done, while not leaving the others undone. He says, but you’re straining out a gnat. Sometimes I wonder about this in the Bible because this verse actually pops into my mind.

When we get so focused on one little detail of scripture, it’s like, well, okay, that detail is important, but let’s not spend 45 minutes on it. Let’s see the bigger pie. Okay? Okay, you’ve got that one little gnat all dissected just right. But how are we doing with the camel? You blind guys, he says, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Oh, they were religious. This cleanliness, this ritual cleansing that was so much a part of Jewish tradition in the first century. I mean, it had a basis in the old covenant. And so they would wash very carefully. Gotta be cleansed, ritual cleansing. You clean the outside of the cup and of the dish. Wouldn’t some of you ladies like to have these guys at your home cleaning your dishes?

Oh, you have a dishwasher to do that. Or your children, they’re the dishwashers. So that the outside of it may become clean also. He says in verse 26, verse 25, he says, but inside they are full of robbery and self indulgence. You’re so concerned about the outside of the cup. What about what’s going on the inside that is corrupt and degrading? Robbery and self-indulgent. He says, You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. He said, You are like whitewashed tombs, hypocrites, which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you too outwardly appear to be righteous, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy.

He said, You revere the prophets, but I want to tell you, the same murderous spirit that your ancestors had alive and well in you also. Consequently, you bear witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. You’re just like them. Fill up then the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You brood of vipers, he concludes. How shall you escape the sentence of hell? I’m going to hold you accountable for the blood of the righteous from Abel to Zachariah. All these things shall come upon this generation. Well, that’s the short of it. And a lot could be said about some of these specifics, and we’ll do so in the class that’s upcoming. And I know you can’t remember and memorize all of Matthew 23.

4. First, Clean the Inside of the Cup

That’d be great. That’d be helpful. But I want to do just one thing with you today. Just one verse that I want you to focus on in the midst of this scathing rebuke. And it’s verse 26. You blind Pharisee, first clean. Those are our two words this morning. First, clean, the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Now he’s already just said, as we noted in verse 25, about being the inside being full of self-indulgence and robbery. These are two very horrible qualities in their hearts. And then he compares them, goes on to compare them to whitewashed tombs, where outwardly everything appears beautiful and righteous, but inwardly there’s death and rottenness and decay. And what he’s saying by the words, first clean, is that spiritually they must first clean within before any outward expression of religion is going to be of any value to them and to God.

Today’s buzzword is the word authentic. As long as you’re authentic, all is well. That is, don’t be something other than you’re not. You be you, and you be the best you can be. And there’s some merit to that about putting on a show, putting on a front. That’s not really you. But what if you are absolutely genuine and real to who you are, and that’s what everybody else sees. I am absolutely authentically this person. Well, that’s fine. But what if this authentic person that you are is not the person God calls you to be.

That at the end of the day we can say, because of our pursuits, our attitudes, how we’re living our lives, that we are authentically Christian. Christian authenticity. And it begins with those two words in Matthew 23. First, clean.

Before we enter the waters of baptism, then we can first come to terms with those two words. First, clean. And what Jesus is obviously saying in Matthew 23 is that I have to mold myself after his will, after the Father’s will, as he will say in Matthew 7, verse 21 through 23, as we quoted many times, not attempting to mold his will after my desires. Okay, I know. You’ve heard me say that before. Simone Biles may be ultimately regarded a Houston product, by the way, as the greatest gymnast of all time. At least they were throwing that out during the Olympics recently. But I gotta tell you, the Pharisees as gymnasts were better than her. And what I’m concerned is that we can do the same kinds of mental gymnastics that eclipse anything Simone Biles did on the exercise floor or the ballast beam or the vault.

The mental gymnastics that somehow deliver us in our own minds to be righteous before God with the same kind of inward degradation that beset the Pharisees.

That they were molding themselves after the Father’s will. If you were to ask them, they’d probably said, absolutely, the Pharisee in the prayer, that’s what he was saying. In Luke 18. That’s me. That’s who I am. And they would exercise great care for anything associated with the temple and the worship therein. They would take care of the lawn at the church building if they had a lawn. But they neglected the greater temple. And that pitfall could be ours as well. But I’m better than other people. I attend services three times a week. We comfort ourselves by affirming that we are not like them. Right? We’re not like them.

We’re not a 40-second cousin to those people. But you know, that’s exactly what they were saying to their ancestors who had killed the prophets as they adorned the prophets too. And Jesus said, You’re just as bad as they are.

5. Molding Ourselves After the Father's Will

What might be some telltale signs that we’re not doing this? Let me take you to Romans 12 quickly. Just a quick barometer, a quick check. How are you doing? Spiritually. Where are you today? Romans 12 9. Really, the whole chapter applies, but we’re not studying Romans 12 today. We’re studying Matthew 23. Romans 12 9, let love be without hypocrisy. Let love be consistent toward all in our behavior and our thinking. Abhor what is evil. Absolutely hate it, loathe it, despise it. Clean. Give some effort. Tenaciously devote yourself. Cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Regard others better than yourself. Give preference to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in our spirit, serving the Lord, and on we could go.

Number one, as we see in this text, seeking the approval and praise of others. Two, the posturing and the posing that is involved in hypocrisy for the purpose of covering sins that may have absolutely nothing to do with the posturing and the posing. And that reminds me of what Jesus says about the Pharisees and their inconsistencies in Luke 16. And so I want to talk about, for just a second, some things that go along with molding ourselves after the will of the Father that need to characterize us. Take these things with you this morning. This is what it looks like. Clean first, cleansing within what is not right before God before there is an outward, external religious expression. There must be within a tenacious battle against lust.

Lusts that are so prevalent in our culture. And I know we might immediately think about sexual temptation and the variety of forms that it comes to people today, particularly a problem with males, the problem that comes to us in our culture that is so prevalent and so rampant, so much a part of our media and television programming and movies, etc. Magazines, you name it. Are we tenaciously, and I chose that word intentionally, tenaciously battling not just those lusts, but the lusts associated with the accumulation of more and more stuff, the lusts associated with greed.

And the variety of avenues of pleasure that may be not immoral in and of themselves, but a variety of avenues of pleasure that appeal to us that cause us to put spiritual things and clean first on a back burner, clean second, third, fourth, or fifth. Put it way down the road because I’ve got all of these other attitudes toward pleasure that I want to fulfill. We are in this culture, in this time, a severe battle against these lusts. And if we are going to say, well, there I am. I’m molding myself after the Father’s will, then there better be a tenacious battle going on. And then secondly, if we’re going to mold ourselves after the Father’s will, we must sincerely and regularly bring homage to the throne of our deserving God who has given us so much.

Is this it? Is this all we worship in my life? This is it, Sunday. Five o’clock. Good luck. I’m going to be here. God, here you go. Here’s my hour. And if he keeps preaching, it’s going to be an hour and 15 minutes. This is what I give. This is it. This the whole circumference of the whole thing. Is that really sufficient? Genuinely care about others. They held others with contempt. We saw that in Luke 18 this morning in our adult Bible class. They saw themselves as righteous and they viewed others with contempt. I know some of the sisters this week, I saw it play out on Facebook, the seven-day challenge, seven books in seven days. I’ve got my own challenge going on. It’s a personal challenge.

It’s not on Facebook. One book in seven weeks.

That’s the way I do it. And the little book is small, because you don’t have to read commentaries and stuff for Wednesday night class, studying Ezekiel. I’ve got other things to do. So I am reading books, but as far as additional reading, I’ve got a book given to me by Christie Beaver East, Little Wooden Shoes. Written by an autobiography by Don Swanson. And it’s short stories in his illustrious preaching life. Don’t a great fellow. And he tells a story of when he first became a Christian having to get rides to services. And there was one guy that would be a substitute ride for services for them sometimes.

He was asked by this fella since he had access to a tractor and the ability to plow a field if Don would come plow his field for him to begin the season to produce crops. And so he said, I plowed the field and plowed it into the evening. And then after he was done, that the promise the guy had made to pay him, he never fulfilled. And later he would say things like, Well, the rights of services that I’m providing, that’s payment enough. And Don just makes this observation before he goes on. He said, I learned early on that brethren aren’t always honest. Isn’t that sad? That early on, here he comes from without.

They weren’t honest in their dealings with others. Genuinely care about others. And then I thought of something that goes on here that we don’t often talk a lot about. One of the byproducts of what we’re doing here today. Yes, we’re bringing homage to God as He so rightfully deserves, and we’re humbling ourselves before Him, and we’re learning more about His will and appreciating this text and what it means to first clean in our lives. But what is this all about? Where is this all headed? So that we can learn things here and develop here so that we can walk out there and confess our Lord to truly be light in the world and soul to the earth to diligently train for the purpose of confession. So that when somebody needs a biblical answer, my first thought is not, I better call Tony.

6. Cleansing First Begins Within

No, I’m going to answer your call. I will answer your call. But we sit in Bible studies for 30 years. We should have some answers, shouldn’t we? If not, we might need to do some more training for the purpose of confession. So have I caused you to appreciate those two words. First, clean. Cleansing. First begins within. When the kindness of God, our Savior, and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness. That standard would not work and be good enough for any of us. But according to his mercy, thanks be to God for his mercy that we need it by the washing of regeneration. It’s not God having done it all, but on the basis of his mercy, by the washing of regeneration.

That points to something that’s happening within us by the watching of regeneration or rebirth and renewing by the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit’s instruction, we are being changed from the inside out. As Caleb read from the Lord’s Supper table, the idea of putting to death an old man of sin and rising to walk in newness of life. First clean. Cleansing within. That’s where it starts. It’s not the removal of filth from the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. Cleansing within, Peter says. By the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. But I’ve got to tell you, this is where so many don’t get the picture. This is an initial step. But it is not the only step with first clean that you’ll ever have to make.

You might find yourself in a situation with sin like David did. Where you have to come to your senses and realize how far you’ve gone away from the Lord. And you’ll have to make the first clean appeal. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Conclusion

Restore the joy of my salvation and do not take your Holy Spirit away from me. And I don’t believe that’s talking about the person and the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. He’s just wanting to continue in communion with a holy God. Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. And so I want to make this observation in conclusion. Initial cleansing does not mean that no additional cleansing will follow. Godly sorrow and pleas for forgiveness, accompanied by sincere attempts to change will be necessary. Wouldn’t it be great if when we cleaned the house that you were done, like forever. Could I get any of you ladies to sign on to that? Vacuum that thing one time and never again. Better yet, clean the bathrooms, clean the toilets one time, never again.

That’s not the way it works. So let me help you out with this. You clean the house, and the first thing that happens is one of your children spills something, dump something, destroy something in your house this week. Probably going to happen within 24 hours of when you cleaned it. Let those little hurricanes running around your house remind you of one important truth.

Spiritual cleansing and cleaning is an ongoing work in our lives. And the sacrifices to God of which he approves are those who come to him with broken spirits.

And it will today. If there’s someone in this audience who comes to him with a broken spirit and says, I need to be clean.