The Sermon At The Pharisees House – Part 2
Luke 14:1-24 (12-24)
November 17, 2019
Jeremiah 4:19-22 “My soul, my soul! I am in anguish! Oh, my heart! My heart is pounding in me; I cannot be silent, Because you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war. Disaster on disaster is proclaimed, For the whole land is devastated; Suddenly my tents are devastated, My curtains in an instant. How long must I see the standard And hear the sound of the trumpet? “For My people are foolish, They know Me not; They are stupid children And have no understanding. They are shrewd to do evil, But to do good they do not know.”
Jeremiah was a prophet in Jerusalem.
And the Lord had shown him the coming destruction of the city
As a result of Israel’s sin.
In response Jeremiah said, “My heart is pounding in me; I cannot be silent, Because you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war.”
Jeremiah couldn’t help but preach.
• He couldn’t help but confront sin.
• Because he could clearly see the consequence of that sin upon the people.
That attitude is the same we see in Jesus here.
We already listened in chapter 13
• As Jesus revealed how there would be many Jews in Israel who would not be saved.
• Jesus said they would be outside knocking on the door but would not be allowed to enter.
And we saw how this grieved Jesus.
• We heard Him say, “How often I wanted to gather you children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you would not have it.” (13:34)
And so we see the same heartbeat in Jesus that was in Jeremiah.
• He sees the coming judgment.
• He knows what that means for the people.
• And so, like Jeremiah, He “cannot be silent”
And that is clearly seen here in this dinner at the Pharisee’s house.
• Jesus has been invited on the Sabbath into the home of a leader of the Pharisees in order to eat bread.
• And Jesus is so disturbed by the actions going on around Him that He cannot keep silent.
• He grieves their hypocrisy, He grieves self-righteousness, He grieves arrogance, and He cannot help but confront it.
That is a good barometer for us today in the church.
Do we grieve the destruction of sinners?
Do we grieve it enough to confront their sin?
Jesus could not keep silent.
Jesus had to speak.
And that is what is unique about this encounter.
There is only one recorded statement by anyone other than Jesus at this meal.
• Most of the dialogue here is initiated by Jesus.
• He brings it up.
• He is not answering questions here, He is confronting sin.
And He is confronting it because
The sin He sees is that which keeps men out of heaven.
It is ultimately the sin of self-righteousness.
And again, you should know why self-righteousness is so dangerous.
Isaiah 64:6 “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
Take all the good that you have ever done
And it holds absolutely no value to God.
Isaiah 1:11 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.”
Even Jesus carried this idea into the New Testament when He said:
Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
We know that the only righteousness God will accept
Is perfect righteousness; Jesus’ righteousness.
We KNOW that Jesus is acceptable.
We KNOW that Jesus is pleasing.
• On one hand because twice God said that He was from heaven.
• But also because God raised Him from the dead.
So only the righteousness of Jesus is acceptable to God,
And men must be clothed in it.
Yet, men do not appeal to be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus
When they are certain their own righteousness is good enough.
And this is what makes self-righteousness so dangerous.
It causes men to reject the salvation they need
Because they don’t think they need it.
Self-righteousness leads to judgment.
And so, since Jesus came to save,
It is not shocking at all to find Him
Directly confronting self-righteousness whenever He sees it.
And at this luncheon self-righteousness appears to be everywhere.
We’ve already seen the first two appearances of it.
#1 CONCERNING HYPOCRISY
Luke 14:1-6
It was a familiar scene:
• The Sabbath
• A sick man
• Jesus
• Religious leaders
Only this time they said nothing.
• But Jesus knew they were watching Him closely
• And He knew what they thought.
He spotted in them hypocrisy.
• If they had a son or an ox fall into a ditch on a Sabbath they wouldn’t even hesitate to pull them out.
• And yet they would condemn Jesus for delivering a sick man on the Sabbath (something the Law did not forbid)
They were hypocrites, which is an evidence of self-righteousness.
A man who has no problem condemning others
For the sin he also commits clearly
Has over-valued his own acceptance before God.
And Jesus could not leave that unexposed.
He took hold of the sick man and healed him
And then confronted the Pharisees for their hypocrisy.
He could not keep silent.
#2 CONCERNING HUMILITY
Luke 14:7-11
Not only was Jesus willing to confront the Pharisees and lawyers
While healing a sick man,
But apparently Jesus also noticed what was going on in the background.
The invited guests had been
Picking out for themselves the places of honor.
It may seem like an insignificant move.
• Surely it’s not like murder or adultery or stealing.
AND YET JESUS TAKES THE TIME TO ADDRESS IT.
Because their action, though seemingly insignificant,
Was an indicator of pride and arrogance
Which is also a fruit of a self-righteous heart.
It is people who think too highly of themselves.
It is people who feel like they belong.
And those types of people do not inherit the kingdom of Heaven.
• The beatitudes make it clear that only the “poor in spirit” inherit the kingdom of heaven.
• That story about the Pharisee and the tax collector make it clear that only those who see their unworthiness are justified before God.
It may seem like nothing that these people felt entitled,
But it was an indication of a terrible spiritual disease
AND JESUS COULD NOT KEEP QUIET.
He addressed the entire group reminding them that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
So here at this luncheon
Jesus is confronting the self-righteousness around Him.
Those were the first 2 areas. There’s 2 more.
Concerning Hypocrisy, Concerning Humility
#3 CONCERNING HOSPITALITY
Luke 14:12-14
Again, nothing is said to Jesus, He just picked up on the circumstances of the room and felt compelled to address a spiritual problem.
• He has confronted the Pharisees and Lawyers
• He has confronted the invited guests
• And now He turns to the host
Some might see this as rude, ungrateful, and a terrible breach in protocol
To call out the host of the luncheon in front of everyone else.
But the reality is that in order to lead men to salvation
Jesus was confronting all the sin in the room,
And this man was not innocent.
THIS MAN HAD GREEDY MOTIVES.
Not only had Jesus noticed where the invited guests were sitting,
But Jesus had also noticed WHO THE INVITED GUESTS WERE.
And there was no poor among them.
• There was no cripples there.
• There was no blind there.
• There were no lame there.
They were all “friends” or “brothers” or “relatives” or “rich neighbors”
Now that in and of itself may not seem like a terrible thing.
• Odds are good in a few weeks many in here at Thanksgiving will do the exact same thing, perhaps with the exception of rich neighbors.
The problem was that Jesus knew the motives
Of why this man invited who he did.
(12b-13) “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment.”
It represented an integral part of the social system in Israel.
• It was the “you-owe-me” system.
• It was the “favor” system.
It was sort of similar to the infamous God-father approach that says, “I’m going to do you a favor, but in the future, and that time may never come, I may be inclined to call upon you for a favor.”
Jesus knew that is what was going on here.
• This man didn’t throw a luncheon out of a hospitable heart.
• This man had this luncheon to build up social capital.
• He was building favors and climbing in social status.
He did what he did because it would benefit him in the long run.
It should not surprise us that the Pharisees used hospitality in this way.
Jesus taught us in Matthew 6 that
They used GIVING, PRAYER, and FASTING in that way.
Matthew 6:2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”
Matthew 6:5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”
Matthew 6:16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”
Giving, praying, and fasting are all fine practices,
But not if the goal is to obtain earthly glory.
And here we see the same motive in having this luncheon.
And in all cases their total reward is the glory they will receive.
THEY GET NO OTHER CREDIT THAN THE SOCIAL CREDIT THEY EARN.
Which is why Jesus said:
(13-14) “But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
• Jesus wanted to see some pure motives.
• Jesus wanted to see something done for eternal purposes.
And just to sort of second what Jesus said here.
Psalms 112:5 “It is well with the man who is gracious and lends; He will maintain his cause in judgment.”
Proverbs 19:17 “One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed.”
When you do good for those who cannot repay you
It is only done that it may please the Lord.
IT INDICATES PURE MOTIVES NOT SELFISH ONES.
Well this man had selfish motives.
• This man did not have eternal interests in mind
• This man wasn’t concerned about pleasing God or glorifying God
• This man was only seeking to up his earthly social status.
And Jesus saw that also as an expression of self-righteousness.
TURN TO: JAMES 2:1-13
There James refers to a similar type of issue.
• ONLY HERE it is not in regard to who is invited,
• But rather how you treat those who show up.
But the same distinct line can be seen.
(1-3) “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”
That is basically the same thing.
It is doing for the socially elite what you won’t do for the social outcast.
But what is the problem there?
(4) “have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?”
James spotted the motives in such an action.
Clearly the only reason you would honor the rich man above the poor man
Is because the rich man has the ability to make this life better for you
While the poor man does not.
• It is a hypocritical distinction
• It is a self-righteous judgment
• It is an evil motive
James goes on to reveal that you may in fact be REJECTING the very one that God accepts and ACCEPTING the very one that God rejects.
(READ 5-7)
JAMES KNEW THE RICH TO BE PRIMARILY those who lack faith, who oppress the poor, who sue their brothers and sisters, and who blaspheme God.
So why would you honor them?
The same can be said in Luke 14.
This man had filled his house with people who reject Jesus.
He was seeking to honor and receive honor from those who had rejected God.
The other problem with such behavior is it indicates a lack of mercy.
(READ 8-13)
By rejecting the poor man it was a judgment of sorts.
• And James said you are in effect expecting God to treat you mercifully while you refuse to do that for others.
That is also a problem.
Since “judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy”
Even Jesus taught us:
Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
And that all speaks to the same problem
We have with this man who invited Jesus.
He had made a judgment in his heart.
• There were those who could benefit him and those who could not.
• He invited those that would help him out and rejected the others.
Jesus saw in this an evil motive.
Jesus saw in this a self-righteous judgment.
Jesus saw in this a lack of mercy.
And all of these are again indicators of the sin of self-righteousness.
Where men think too highly of themselves.
Where men are not concerned with obtaining God’s favor, only mans.
IT IS PROBLEMATIC AND JESUS CANNOT LEAVE IT ALONE.
He exposes this man in the middle of the dinner.
And THE POINT that I think Luke is driving at here
Is that all of these offenses SEEM SO INSIGNIFICANT.
Think about what you have here.
• You have Pharisees and lawyers “watching Him closely”
• You have invited guests “picking out the places of honor”
• You have the host inviting friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors
If I asked you to list for me this morning some of the worst sins you encountered this week, I doubt any of those would have made your list.
But they were so serious to Jesus
That He confronts them all at this dinner He was invited to.
And perhaps that will help you learn to rank sin a little differently.
Jesus didn’t rank sins from bad to worse
Based upon their perceived level of vileness.
Jesus ranked them based upon that sins propensity to
Keep someone from running to Christ for mercy and forgiveness.
And here is the simple fact.
• A murderer is far more likely to run to Christ than a self-righteous person.
• An adulterer is far more likely to run to Christ than a self-righteous person.
• A homosexual is far more likely to run to Christ than an arrogant person.
• A drunkard is far more likely to run to Christ than a proud person.
• A tax collector is far more likely to run to Christ than a hypocritical person.
That is why Jesus is so adamant about confronting those sins.
Those are the sins that keep men out of hell
Because those are the sins that convince men that they don’t need Christ.
Jesus was rooting out self-righteousness.
• He saw it in hypocrisy of the Pharisees and lawyers
• He saw it in the lack of humility in the invited guests
• He saw it in the lack of hospitality in the host
And He confronted it.
We must examine ourselves
To see if self-righteousness exists in our own lives.
Because self-righteousness is the enemy of salvation.
The call of Jesus is that we be:
• “poor in spirit”
• “mourning” over sin
• “hunger and thirsting for righteousness” which we know we do not have
• “meek” (submissive)
• “pure in heart” not hypocritical
• “merciful” understanding the value of mercy
That is the man who is saved, not the self-righteous man.
And that is further illustrated in this last point.
Concerning Hypocrisy, Concerning Humility, Concerning Hospitality
#4 CONCERNING HEAVEN
Luke 14:15-24
Here we have the only other recorded statement by anyone in the room.
(15) “When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
It’s hard to get a good gage on this man’s motives
Since we aren’t told what they are.
(and because he didn’t use any emoji’s)
John MacArthur sees him as being downright antagonistic toward Jesus here.
In effect, raising his glass to toast all those whom Jesus has just confronted as if to say, “Don’t worry fellas, we’re all going to heaven.”
Perhaps that is the mentality, I don’t know.
What is clear is that regardless of what Jesus just said,
This man DOES CLEARLY THINK that
Pretty much everyone in that room is headed to heaven.
He’s practically singing the hymn, “When we all get to heaven”
REGARDLESS OF HIS MOTIVE,
What is clear is that the words of Jesus have not really sunk in.
This man does not see the self-righteousness Jesus just exposed
As that which will keep men out of heaven.
BUT HE IS DEAD WRONG.
BUT HERE IS WHERE IT ALSO GETS INTERESTING.
We should ask the question:
WHY DO THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS NOT GO TO HEAVEN?
Is it because that’s just one sin that God won’t allow?
NO, I might remind you that God won’t allow any sin in heaven.
Is it because that’s a sin that God just won’t forgive?
Well, He clearly forgave Paul who identified himself as
The most self-righteous man who ever lived.
WHY IS IT THAT THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS DON’T GO TO HEAVEN?
It is because in their self-righteousness
They don’t see their need for Christ
And so they never run to Him pleading for mercy.
That is the problem with the people at this luncheon.
They have everything they need and they don’t need Christ.
• THEY EVEN HAVE a man here, in spite of their rejection of Christ, talking about how great it will be when they are all in heaven.
Jesus is about to show this man why that won’t happen.
He has a story.
(16-17) “But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’”
Coincidence that Jesus used a dinner here as the setting?
I doubt it.
There was a “big dinner” and “many” had been invited.
• Invitations in that day worked like this.
• You received an initial announcement that a party was coming.
• Then when it was ready you received the invitation to come now.
This man had done both.
• It would have been a prestigious invitation to be a part of this.
• And to the Jews it would have been unheard of for anyone to reject it.
And yet:
(18-20) “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ “Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ “Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’”
This is a shocking revelation Jesus was making to this Jewish crowd.
• On one hand it is absurd that they would reject the feast.
• But on the other hand their excuses are pathetic.
The first man says “I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it”
• I think we all understand the necessity of surveying land when you are purchasing it,
• But everyone knows you do that before you buy the land not after.
This is a lame excuse.
This man just doesn’t want to come.
The second man is no better saying, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out”
• Also absurd is the thought that you aren’t going to try out your oxen until after you buy them.
Both of these excuses are fishy.
And EVEN IF looking at land and trying oxen is necessary,
IT IS HARDLY URGENT.
That land and those oxen aren’t going anywhere.
These excuses are so much like the excuses we so often hear today
Regarding the things of God.
They don’t reflect people who are truly stuck, they reflect people who just don’t want to be there and so they come up with an excuse not to be.
The third excuse in Jewish culture is downright laughable.
“I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.”
• Now I understand the importance of husbands loving their wives and sacrificing for them.
• Certainly the New Testament clarified for us the need for a husband to be considerate of his wife.
But this is a Jewish audience.
(More than that a Pharisee audience)
Every day a Pharisee would get up in the morning and pray this prayer:
“Blessed are You, O Lord God, ruler of the universe. Thank you for not making me a Gentile or a slave or a woman.”
So you understand why this excuse to this audience would have been laughable.
• And a wife in this audience had no authority.
• To this audience a wife’s opinion meant nothing.
• And no respectable Jewish man would let his wife tell him what to do or not to do.
“I cannot come” is a statement that was laughable to this audience.
THE POINT IS THAT IT, LIKE THE FIRST 2, IS A BOGUS EXCUSE.
These weren’t men who couldn’t come.
These were men who didn’t want to come.
Now, let me pull you back into the context
Of what Luke has been trying to teach us.
Go back one chapter.
Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!”
Remember the grief of Jesus?
WHY was Jerusalem not being saved?
• “you would not have it”
They didn’t want to come to Jesus.
At that point we might have asked WHY they didn’t want to come to Jesus,
But when we get to Luke 14 we find out why.
They were full of hypocrisy, arrogance, and self-righteousness
And they didn’t think they needed Jesus.
They all thought they were all headed to heaven just like they were.
And so they saw no need for Christ.
They would not have it.
They all made excuses.
And notice then the response of the host.
(21-22) “And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ “And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’”
• Clearly the desire of the master is a full banquet hall.
• Clearly the desire of the master is for everyone to come.
But when some won’t come the search widens.
It is apparent that the first group invited must have been the well-to-do’s of society
• Because when the search widens now it includes “the streets and lanes of the city”
• And those who are “poor and crippled and blind and lame”
But we find that even after they come there is still room.
(23) “And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.”
And here the search widens even more to those outside the city, living in the highways and hedges.
• They may have been the unclean, or even the vile or guilty.
• And yet they are invited.
And I hope you are getting Luke’s point.
THE FIRST GROUP INVITED WAS CLEARLY ISRAEL.
• Jesus went from synagogue to synagogue inviting men to salvation.
Remember?
Luke 4:18-19 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”
But if you’ll also remember that message was so repulsive to the self-righteous crowd that they tried to throw Him off a cliff.
Israel rejected the message.
But not all of them.
There were some who would believe.
• It was the outcasts.
• It was the poor and crippled and blind and lame
That is to say it is those who knew they were unworthy to come.
It is those who saw such an invite as a true honor.
It was those who jumped at the chance to go where they did not deserve.
And when even they could not fill the hall, the search widened even more and we see people like the SYROPHONECIAN WOMAN or the CENTURION and other Gentiles being saved.
Do you remember those two and their attitude?
The Syrophonecian woman wanted her daughter healed:
Matthew 15:26-28 “And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.”
• Did you hear her humility?
• Did you hear her desperation?
• There was no self-righteousness there and she was saved.
Remember the Centurion who wanted his servant healed?
Matthew 8:7-12 “Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. “For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. “I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
• Do you see the humility?
No one was worthy of salvation,
But those who knew they were unworthy
Were those who ran to Jesus for it.
JESUS CONFRONTS SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
Because it leaves men in their sin while thinking they are fine.
And the end result for them is judgment.
(24) “For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.”
And what did we learn back in chapter 13?
Luke 13:23-30 “And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. “Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘ Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ “Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, ALL YOU EVILDOERS.’ “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. “And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. “And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.”
Is Luke’s message getting through yet?
HE IS TALKING ABOUT SALVATION.
AND THE QUESTION IS “Who will be saved?”
AND THE ANSWER IS “Not many and not who you’d think.”
Because there are so many steeped in self-righteousness
That they are unwilling to run to Jesus.
Are you hearing Luke’s message?
Are you hearing the point?
So now let me ask you:
DO YOU NEED JESUS?
• Do you need to be clothed in His righteousness?
• Or are your good deeds enough on their own to save you?
• Or are you pretty confident that you don’t need help?
• And if you see that you need Jesus are you willing to turn your back on this lift to obtain Him?
• Are you willing to call all your righteous works what they really are – UNACCEPTABLE?
• Are you willing to deny yourself, embrace His cross, and follow Him?
If you are, you will be saved.
If not, then your self-righteousness will condemn you forever.
That’s been the point.
That is what Jesus has been addressing.
That is what Luke wants you to see.
You need Jesus, are you humble enough to run to Him?
