too much religious activity. It kills your spirituality. Let's turn this morning. I'm going to do something a little different from what I've been doing, at least as far as looking at people in trouble, primarily because I'm in trouble this morning. Let's turn to Luke chapter eleven. Begin reading in verse thirty-three. Luke chapter eleven in verse thirty three. No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel, but on a stand that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light. but when it is not sound your body is full of darkness therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness if then your whole body is full of light having no part dark it will be wholly bright as when a lamp with its rays gives you light i'm sure you immediately recognize that our lord has used Even when you die, you'll be the late Naomi Cole. All these people come in late and then start ordering the meeting, you know. I'm not even sure the Lord is working at seven-twenty in the morning in the evening. Well, anyhow, for those of you who wandered in just now, we were reading from Luke chapter eleven beginning at verse thirty-three, and our Lord on more than one occasion uses this figure of a lamp set on a lampstand. And as Don Cole has already mentioned in one of his studies, in the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord talks about his disciples as light and uses the figure of a lamp and also of a city set on a hill, which you cannot hide at night. In Mark's Gospel, he uses that same figure to talk about his own parabolic teaching, that the parables of our Lord were not designed to obscure truth, but to teach it. Now, they may not have been as obvious at the moment as a plain statement, but the parables were designed to teach truth. They are not just illustrations of truth, they teach truth and they are light. And our Lord's parabolic ministry in Mark chapter four is likened to a lamb. Now using it in a different way, same figure of speech here in Luke chapter eleven. He's really using it of himself and who he is and the revelation of God that comes through our Lord Jesus. You're also aware that this particular figure of speech that our Lord uses here occurs in the journey of our Lord from Galilee to Jerusalem to die. And Luke's Gospel gives us the largest account of that journey of any of the Gospels. It actually begins in the ninth chapter of Luke's Gospel, the journey from the northern province of Galilee down to the southern province of Judea, and it was our Lord's last journey there to go to the cross. Mark's Gospel, for instance, covers the whole thing in one chapter. So our Lord is talking about the revelation that comes through him as a light. And if you think about a Palestinian home in the first century, usually a one-room affair, and everybody is crowded into this one room at night. And if the master of the house, the Lord and master is obviously the husband, lights the lamp, he's not going to put a cover over it. It either goes in a niche in the wall or on the table that is designed for that purpose of sand, so that everybody in the room gets the benefit of the light. They can see because of that light. Now, if he lights that lamp, And no one sees. There are only two possible explanations. Either he has covered the light or the people are blind. One or the other. And our Lord is saying about his own self-revelation, who he is. He is like that light. And he did not come into the world and throw a cover over himself so that people couldn't see. If people do not see who he is, The fault is not in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, but in the people whose eyes are blinded. And that's exactly the situation that has arisen here. And what I'd like to do is go back and see how the blindness, particularly the religious leader, shows up in this section and then see what our Lord has to say about their eyes, why they can't see. And it may say something to us about our own approach to the truth of God as we have it in the Scriptures. Now, just to save a little bit of time... in the same eleventh chapter without going back beyond the eleventh chapter for the moment go back to verse fourteen now he was casting out a demon that was dumb when the demon had gone out the dumb man spoke and the people marveled but some of them said he cast out demons by beelzebul the prince of demons while others sought to test him while others to test him sought from him a sign from heaven now here's the miraculous ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ And there are people who see this, who see the effect, who see people delivered. Their conclusion is that He has that power from Satan. Now you're aware of how our Lord answers that. But then Luke says there are others testing Him, asking for a sign from heaven. Now the word sign that has to do with our Lord's miraculous ministry indicates the significance of what He is doing, what is revealed by what He is doing. And they are asking for some evidence from heaven that will signify that He is really from God. Now I think you see immediately why they're asking for a sign from heaven. Everything He has done miraculously, they have ascribed to Satan. Now they are saying, give us a sign from heaven. You've given us some from hell. Now give us one from heaven. If you want to authenticate yourself as the Son of God, as you claim, then show us a sign from heaven. Now, it's obvious that our Lord will go on to say there isn't any kind of a sign you can give to people like that. No matter what he did, they can ascribe it to Satan. I really don't know what they were expecting when they asked for a sign from heaven, but something unmistakable that would assure them that God was attesting this one as his Son and the Messiah. Now, I'm going to go a little further in the chapter. Verse twenty-nine. When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, this generation is an evil generation. It seeks a sign. But no signs shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah. Now, as our world expands on that in Matthew's Gospel, it refers to his own resurrection. But as you could say in the sixteenth chapter of the same Gospel, they won't believe if one rose from the dead. And people in that condition, doesn't matter what kind of a sign you give, they are not going to believe. The problem is not that the light isn't clear. The light is clear. The problem is in the eye of the beholder. And for people like this, there isn't anything you can do that is going to convince them that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Now, why is that? What's wrong with their eyesight? Well, here is the light clearly shining in our Lord Jesus Christ. And these people cannot see it. He hasn't covered it. They are blind. All right, let's look at some of the things he says here about the eye. In verse thirty-four, the Lord says, Your eye is the lamp of your body, and when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light, but when it is not sound, and I want to look at those two expressions, when your eye is sound and when your eye is not sound. Now, the same word, sound, is used in various other contexts in the New Testament. I'm going to need some help here. primarily because I'm too lazy. Now, how about one of you fellas turning up James chapter one in verse five for us? Who's got that? What? Don't brag, just look it up. You're going to take James one five? Yeah. All right, hold on. Then I need somebody to take Romans twelve eight. Romans twelve eight. Okay, brag. And then second Corinthians chapter nine verses eleven and thirteen. Second Corinthians nine verses eleven and thirteen. Anybody? Okay, fine. Now listen carefully what these verses say, because the same word translated here, when your eye is not sound, or when your eye is sound. Now we're getting with that word sound. A healthy eye is the idea. But what is a healthy eye? We'll find it as we see how this word is used in other contexts. All right, let's begin with that passage in James, Shockley. wisdom that an act of God will give to all men generously and without the voice it will be given to him. Now that word translated generously in that translation is the same word here when your eye is sound. I love that passage. The basic idea of the word is there isn't any fold. It's like a piece of cloth that's unfolded. And when a piece of cloth is unfolded, there isn't anything hidden in it. And when God gives, that's the way He gives. There are no second thoughts, no hidden motives. It's absolutely open and generous. He never says, now, oh, wait a minute, maybe I gave too much. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. He never gives grudgingly. When He says He gives generously, there's no hidden grudge in His heart when He gives. And in this particular context, He never reproaches. He doesn't belittle us. He doesn't scold us. But He gives generously. Now that word, generous, is the same word that we've got here. Okay, let's go to the Romans, twelve, eight passage. Are he that exhorteth on aggravation? Are he that give, let him do it with liberality? Are he that will fulfill it with he that truth? Mercy with cheer. All right, when he talks about giving, he that gives, what's the word he uses with that, Brack? What's the liberality? Or simplicity. That's the idea of being unfolded, not being folded over. No hidden motives. We are to give Not grudgingly, we are to give with liberality. That's the way God gives. All right, finally, let's take that passage in St. Corinthians nine. People get rich in every way by breaking our idolatry. We're interested in a lot of opening time soon with God. For the rendering of this service, not only does God want to do things, but also won't be slow to do very time soon with God. Under the test of His service, He will glory God, glorify God, find our obedience to His knowledge in the gospel of Christ, and by the generosity of His contribution from them into all words. That word shows up twice in those verses. And in that translation, both times generosity. And the sound eye is the generous eye. Maybe it's not clear yet, but let's go look at the other side of it. And that's the evil eye. And the King James has it. Or this translation has it. The unsound eye. Now these are such delicious passages. And I'm going to turn to them myself. I want you to read along with me. All right. Now let's go back to the book of Deuteronomy. And it's chapter fifteen. Deuteronomy chapter fifteen. And let's begin reading in verse seven. Now you've got the picture that the sound eye is the generous eye. Now that may not make any sense yet, but it may as we look at the contrast of the evil eye. And this is the expression that the Greek translators of the Old Testament use in the passages we're going to be reading now. Deuteronomy chapter fifteen. Let's begin with verse seven. If there is among you a poor man, one of your brethren, in any of your towns within your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother. But you shall open your hand to him, and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take heed, lest there be a base stock in your heart. And you say, the seventh year, the year of release is near. And your eye be hostile. There's the expression. Your eye be evil to your poor brother, and you give him nothing. And he cried to the Lord against you, and it be a sin in you. You're aware of the situation. Every seventh year was the year of the release of all debt. Here is a wealthy Jewish man whose poor neighbor comes to him and needs to borrow money. Of course, the wealthy man has plenty to give, but then he starts to calculate. He says, well, this is the sixth year. Next year is the year of release. If I lend him that money now, it's very unlikely he's going to be able to pay it off in a year. That's the year of release, and the debt's canceled, and I just lost the money. And calculating that way, he tells his poor neighbor, no, I won't give it to you. I won't lend you that money. If it had been the first year, if they just had the year of release previously, you could figure out, well, he's got six years to repay. He's a pretty good worker. I'm sure in six years he can repay, and I won't lose anything, therefore I'll give to him. And that calculation, that attitude of thinking of myself, what am I going to get? What am I going to lose? What is it going to cost me? That's the evil eye. and there's a humorous passage in the book of Proverbs chapter twenty three that covers the same idea let's begin with verse one Proverbs chapter twenty three verse one when you sit down to eat with a ruler observe carefully what is before you and put a knife to your throat if you're a man given to appetite I don't suppose you ought to do that right at the table He often mentions. But now listen, do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. Do not toil to acquire wealth. Be wise enough to desist. Now he doesn't want you to get your heart set on wealthy things, because now he's going to go on to describe this kind of a wealthy guy that you've gone to eat with. And he says in verse six, Do not eat the bread of a man. Now how does the King James have that next expression? How does he describe that man? Do not eat the bread of a man with an evil eye. Now this translation says, Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy. That's the idea. Do not desire his delicacy, for he is like one who is inwardly reckoning. Eat and drink, he says to you. But his heart is not with you. Now, here you've been invited to a nice big meal at this fellow's house. And because you know he's wealthy, you haven't eaten for three days before the invitation. And you sit on there, and he's got steak on the table or whatever it happens to be that night. And he says, go right ahead, eat all you want. But every time you reach over there and stab another steak, he's got a computer going in his mind, and he remembers what that thing cost him at the checkout counter at the grocery store. He said, oh, you got it. And what he's telling you is eat what you want, but in his heart he really doesn't mean it. He's thinking of what it is costing him for you to enjoy yourself at his expense. That's a man with an evil eye. And the idea of having an evil eye in Scripture is to be a selfish individual, to calculate everything in terms of what it will cost me. That's a man with an evil eye. a man whose world centers around himself, a man who cannot see the needs of other people, and therefore cannot reach out and touch those needs. Now it seems to me what our Lord is saying is the reason those religious leaders could not see who he is, is because they were basically selfish. And the light was hidden from them. because they didn't know anything about love. Do you remember in the Council of the Sanhedrin when they finally decided to put Jesus to death as they discussed the whole matter? One of the considerations is that if we don't get rid of this man, the Romans are going to come. And what are they going to do? They're going to take away our place. It's him or us. and they were calculating what they would lose if this man prevailed. No wonder they couldn't recognize who he is. Well, of course, the disciples had the same problem. Their problem in recognizing who Jesus really was, and it took them two and a half years, by the way, before they came to Peter's great confession, their problem in recognizing who Jesus really was was that concept of the Messiah they had of the glorious Messiah setting up a political kingdom in which Israel would be the head and all the other nations would be the tail. And one of the interesting things to trace in our Lord's public ministry with his disciples is this conflict that goes on between the Lord and his disciples. They are always trying to bring him around to their way of thinking. You know, they're trying to straighten the Lord out. Hey, yeah, okay, you may be the Messiah, but you've got some wrong concepts about what it is to be the Messiah. We've got to train you. And they were particularly horrified when he talked about going up to Jerusalem to die. Peter says, oh no, you've blown it. That's not what the Messiah is supposed to do. And then it shows up when Peter finally says to the Lord, look, we have forsaken everything for you. What's in it for us? What do we get out of it? And when James and John, along with their mother, come to the Lord and say we want the chief seats in the kingdom, one on the right hand and one on the left, Now, man, no, I don't want to get onto that subject, but when they were talking about one on the right hand and one on the left, before there would ever be thrones on his right hand and on his left, there would be a cross on his right hand and on his left. Now, they weren't looking for that. But it's because of that basic concept of what's in it for us. that they really couldn't see the light that was shining. Now this shows up in these chapters very quickly. Well, you're familiar with this material, so I won't have to take a lot of time to do it. Back in chapter ten. Verse twenty-five. You hold a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And then you know the story that comes out of it. Our Lord says, You know what the law says. And what was the lawyer's response when they got down to love my neighbor as myself? What was his response to that? Who's my neighbor? Why do you ask the question, who's my neighbor? When the law says, love your neighbor as yourself, why would you ask the question, who's my neighbor? Yeah, I want a facial. Of course I don't. I want to live in my world of illusion. But what's the direct thinking here? Who is my neighbor? What's he trying to do with this? Love your neighbor as yourself. Who do you really do that? It's going to cost you plenty. Man, I want to put some restrictions on this. Let's narrow this down. That could be too expensive. And then our Lord gives the story of the good Samaritan. And I don't know any parable that's more perverted than the parable of the good Samaritan. And one of the reasons I like to pervert it is because I escape the responsibility that's in it. What I like to do is make the good Samaritan the Lord. And I like to make the poor guy that's been robbed the sinner. I like to make the whole thing a parable of salvation. And that neatly lets me off the hook. That is not what the parable said. How does our Lord end up that parable to that liar? What's his instruction to the liar? Go and do thou likewise. Now did it cost that Samaritan to show compassion for that poor beaten robbed man? Well, he risked his life in the first place. How did he know the robbers wouldn't come down on him? And then it cost him to put that man at the inn and he pledges whatever future cost it'll take for that man's wealth. And our Lord says, Go thou and do likewise. By the way, if the Lord shows up in that parable anywhere, It seems to me he's going to show up in the poor beaten and broken man. That would be the Lord. Inasmuch as you have done it to the least, it leads my brethren, you've done it to me. And if the Lord shows up anywhere, that's where he shows up. But remember the priest and the Levi who passed by. They represent the ritual holiness of the law. And they could ignore the man in the ditch. It seems to me what our Lord is saying is he will say in the eleventh chapter, is love is the real holiness. Not being separated from all these people and things like the priest and the Levite were who couldn't contaminate themselves if they were going up to Jerusalem to perform the services. Real holiness is love. Now come into chapter eleven. Verse thirty-seven. I'm going to try to hurry because I can hear breakfast calling. While he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him. So he went in and sat at a table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And that's not a matter of cleanliness. That's ritual purity. It's not a matter of getting the germs off your hands. It's a matter of getting spiritual defilement off. Because you've been out touching Gentiles and things that Gentiles have touched. And then you touch food with those ceremonially unclean hands. And you put that food in your body. You are unclean and God rejects you. And our Lord didn't go through the little ritual that the Pharisees went through. And I take it he did it deliberately. It's not something he forgot. It's something I take it he deliberately did. Now I take it this Pharisee was honest in his invitation to the Lord. It was just a surprise that our Lord would not go through this. It was inconceivable to a Pharisee that a man would eat without going through this ritual purification. Now our Lord says to him in verse thirty-nine, by the way, it might not be as comfortable to have the Lord at your table as you think it would be. I thought of that at the Lord's table, by the way. If he's really there, it might not be as comfortable as we make it. So while there's a table, and he's a guest in this man's house, he says, Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. How would you like that for a dinner conversation? What is extortion? You have another translation there? You were full of extortion, robbery, which is what extortion is. Only it's done not with a gun or with a knife. There are nice little legal ways to do it. Well, maybe not exactly legal, but there isn't any violence so that you can maintain your reputation while you commit robbery. And he said, you're full of extortion. Now, why do you commit robbery? Why does anybody commit robbery? Selfishness, gain, unless the man is in real need. It's a matter of accumulating things for myself. And that's what the Lord says about the Pharisee. Now, why in the world couldn't the Pharisees recognize that Jesus is the Christ? Well, I don't like this kind of dinner conversation if I'm a Pharisee to begin with. But if I'm operating on the principle of getting what I can out of life, and he's operating on the principle of giving everything he can in life, And how in the world am I going to recognize him as the Messiah? They lived on two totally different principles. He came to give and they lived to get. And there's no way that the two can get together. Now listen to what he says as he goes on here. You fools did not he who made... You don't talk to your dinner host that way. You fools did not he who made the outside make the inside also. Now notice what he says, but give for arms those things which are within. That is the contents of the dishes. Give for alms. And behold, everything is clean. And again he is saying, true holiness is love. What you Pharisees need to do is learn what it is to give. Let me suggest to you, therefore, that the reason why these religious leaders could not recognize him as the Messiah is because they didn't know anything about love. and they couldn't recognize love when they saw it. Let me suggest further that if that is not my basic approach to life, I am going to misunderstand the scriptures and I am going to misuse them. And I don't want to take time to go into all the ways in which we, I couldn't say all the ways in which I misuse the scriptures simply because my basic approach to life is not one of love. And therefore I can neatly sit in front of the scriptures and calculate with them and lay out their teaching and outline everything and lay out the program of the future according to dispensational interpretation of scripture and never be affected by it. Because my approach to life is not one of love. And I look down on poor ignorant Christians who haven't had the benefit of the teaching that I have had and the years of study I have had. but who like our Lord Jesus go about doing good. I think they see the Scriptures correctly. One more passage and then I will finish. This helps me understand something in First John. First John chapter two. And then I want to come back to another passage in First John. First John chapter two verse seven. Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still. He who loves his brother abides in the light. And in it, or in him, there is no cause for stumbling. But he who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. What is it to walk in the light here? It's to walk in love. And a lot of our problems in life, of course, as all of us know, are caused by our basic selfishness. Some of our discussions about how far can you go helping people when you have to think of your reputation. All that tells me is I'm not walking in love. I'm concerned not about that individual, but about what people think about me. And that's why I get into the complication of trying to decide that question. Because I haven't learned what it is really to love. That's why I stumble around in darkness. That's why so much of the Word of God is dark to me. That's why when I go to the prophets, for instance, all I can see is a scheme for the future and all the great moral lessons. Listen, prophecy is always primarily moral. Always. Excuse me, I feel very strongly about that. But it wouldn't be difficult to show that from the scriptures. And when I go to the prophetic scriptures and all I can do is construct a scheme for the future of ends. I have missed the whole thrust of prophecy. And the reason I have missed it is because I know so little about love. Now let's go back to chapter one of first John. Verse five. This is the message we have heard from him to proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. God is pure love. There isn't one hidden fold in God where He keeps His grudges so that someday He does not act in love toward people. God is light. There is no darkness in God at all. Now what's the key to our fellowship? If we walk in the light, not in the amount of truth that we have. That's not what he's talking about as light. If we ever learn what it is really to love other people, we'll have fellowship one with another. And we'll have fellowship with God because God is love. And perhaps in my own life, as with those Pharisees, the reason I really don't recognize him and the reason that I can play with the scriptures. Because I've never learned what love is. The light, the lamp has been lit. The light is shining. But if I've got an evil eye, I can't see it. Let's pray. Help us, our Father, to walk today in the simplicity of love. And in its generosity, in its lack of self-calculating, how we thank you, you did not sit down and calculate whether or not the cross is worth it. But there was the generous outpouring of your own life for us. Lord, deliver us from being such calculating creatures. But to learn what it is to love and to give generously. As you yourself have done, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.