Luke 11:38-39 (ESV) The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.
Jesus was invited to a dinner party at a Pharisees house. The custom for Jews was to ceremonially wash their hands before eating dinner. This was not for health reasons, but to make sure that they did not eat anything unclean. Jesus did not turn out to be the ideal dinner guest the Pharisee had expected.
He speaks of all the Pharisees, including his host. Jesus uses the outward washing as an illustration of who the Pharisees were. The Pharisees were Jewish leaders who looked religious on the outside as they kept their rules. However, Jesus knew that on the inside they were greedy and wicked.
Luke 11:40 (ESV) You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?
Jesus calls the Pharisees fools for their false teaching. God made their souls on the inside to be filled with God. Yet their souls were filled with ungodliness.
Luke 11:41 (ESV) But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.
The Pharisees made sure that everyone knew that they gave offerings to the temple as an outward show. However, they had not allowed God to change them. As we’ll see, they were not going to accept Jesus as God’s Messiah. If they would give God their souls within, then they would be cleansed and truly clean. The problem with the false teachers of the Pharisees was that they focused on keeping outward rules.
We must beware of false teachers who focus on outward rules. We must be careful not to focus on outward rules ourselves as a means to righteousness. False teachers are hypocrites, pretending to be something outwardly that they are not inwardly. The rules that false teachers promote are not the commands of Scripture, but additional rules they have invented.
The biggest lie of false teachers and churches today is the teaching that a person is saved by doing good things. The Bible teaches that only those who believe in Jesus are saved.Beware of false teachers who focus on outward rules. Next, we must beware of false teachers …