as someone has said, know your enemy. The strategy of the military is to know your enemy, know your enemy. And so this is the thing that we need to really, really get down and know them, lest we ourselves be deceived by these situations. So we come to Matthew 23 verses 1 to 4 for our lesson this morning. He says the parable of the overladen beast of burden. I would say the figure of speech, because I like to distinguish a parable as being somewhat a longer story than this. If it's a parable, it's a very short parable. Then Jesus said to the multitude and to his disciples, The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat of authority. Now that's exactly what that means. So observe and practice all they tell you, but do not do what they do, for they preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy blows. hard to bear and place them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not lift a little finger to help bear them." Folks, this is a situation that's common to life. Everything becomes more complex. Instead of things becoming simpler, or more simple, I don't know which would be the correct way to say that, but life becomes more complex all the time. And so they tie heavy loads, hard to bear. and place them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them bear them." All right, in unmasking the cold, heartless treatment of the Jewish people by their rulers, Jesus likened the latter, that is, the rulers, to cruel men. who overloaded their beasts of burden with loads too heavy to carry. Now, there was something that my dad couldn't stand when he was farming and so on. In fact, my dad kept his stock a little bit too fat. but he just couldn't stand seeing somebody working his team real hard and about half feeding them because you could see their bones sticking out and so on he just couldn't stand that if he worked an animal he fed that animal all right so now it's still worse than that when men will overload their beasts of burden with loads too heavy to carry until they... Why, we've got organizations today that will do more to protect animals than we have to protect people. We need to take note of that. All right. Now, applying this expressive figure of Jesus, this expressive figure or speech, Jesus told those rulers that this was the sin of which they were guilty. They themselves carried few burdens. and would not move a finger to assist those burdened. They touched them not, which refers not so much to the irksomeness of the imposed legal rights, though they were irksome enough." Now Acts 15 and 10, and let's turn there just a minute and note that Acts 15 and 10. I think this has to do with that conference over there in the Jerusalem church. Acts 15 and 10. Why do you try to test God by putting a yoke on the necks of the disciples such as neither our forefathers nor we ourselves were able to endure? Now this is talking of the law. And they had so deteriorated the law to where you are allowed to take so many steps on Sunday. And now you would even squabble as to whether or not you ought to eat that egg on Monday morning that the old hen laid on Sunday. And things like that. Quibbling, not getting down to the important things. And so here in this conference here, here with the Judaizers who were saying, well now, before you can become Christians, you've got to first be converted to Judaism. And Judaism was a kind of a door then to get into Christianity. And so they just said right here, Now then, why do you try to test God by putting a yoke on the necks of the disciples such as neither our forefathers nor we ourselves were able to endure? And yet they were wanting to come and take these Christians and try to put them back under the law of Moses. All right. So this shows how heartless they were. And so as to the heartless rigor with the most striking pictures of great truths which they were enforced by those men of shameless inconsistency. Now Jesus went on to say, now what they say you do, but don't you do after them because they don't do what they say. The rulers overloaded the people with severe traditions and rules and thus abuse their authority by such calculated inconsiderateness. Sitting in Moses' seat, the seat of authority, usurped authority if you please, they crush the soul by their multiplication of do's and don'ts, which resulted in the people being driven both from the law and from God. Thus, some seven times Jesus called these heartless rulers hypocrites because they were false interpreters of the ancient law. But what they could change it to do to really make religion a burden. Now, I'm becoming aware more every day, if it's possible, just what a blessed privilege it is of mine, of yours, that we can come to a throne of grace, that we may find help mercy, and help, grace, and the time of need are well timed to the need that we are coming. And I'm being made to feel more and more all the time. Just a little more of what it means that we have not an high priest who cannot be touched with feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sinning. And I'm glad that God through Jesus Christ can understand me. Have you ever thought of that? just how wonderful it is that God came right down to where man live and he knows and he has a feeling compassion with our infirmities and so on. All right now instead of And I'm using the word religion, though I don't like to use that term here because religion can be made to cover a lot of things. But I don't look on it as a burden at all, but it's a privilege. A glorious privilege. A glorious privilege. Now, we had a man that came all the way from Bozeman, Montana last week to be baptized. He has a church in Bozeman. He was the Bible Baptist. It seemed that the Bible Baptists just don't care anything about those little old churches out yonder possum holler. They want to be where the big crowds are, where they can entice them with everything possible to get them in. Anyway, he got to tracing back his baptism. And he told last night in his sermon about him preaching in his sermon that he wrote such and such a preacher and this preacher wrote back to him rather sarcastic. He said, guess you've swallowed this line of church succession. There's just a lot of people who think you can just get out of here and just start you something and that's exactly why they want to tie on to Pentecost so strongly that the church started on Pentecost so that they can come up with them another Pentecost to cover their organization that they got started but this man wanted to get back to that Which goes on back, well, if you ever, any of you ever get to hear Dr. Conrad Glover preach a sermon on tracing biologists in America, clear bank. You can hear the water sloshing in old Jordan River. You listen to him if you please, because he can do it. All right. Now, folk, I like to have the genuine, the kind that has God's stamp of approval on it. When Jesus came to John and said, John, I want you to be baptized. John said, no, no, no, no, I need to be baptized in you. He said, not so now. Suffer it to be so now. For thus, or like this, it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. And I don't know what all else may have been involved in it, but right there, Jesus prophetically in baptism told how he was going to save people by dying for them, bearing their sins. For what? Baptism is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, sir, this man was just happy to do that. He was just kind of overjoyed. And I just told Lois last night, I asked her, I said, did you notice It seemed to me like there was a different spirit in services all day today than usual. And I said, as far as putting my hand on, finger on anything, I can't. Unless it just be that here was somebody who was wanting to do the Lord's will, and mind The man's daughter is down here going to some college, taking music. And I guess it was her boyfriend, but anyhow, he was a member of this church. So when his, he said, I guess if his pastor needed scripture by baptism, he did too. And so the first thing that this man did actually, he got scriptural baptism yesterday, was to baptize this young man that night. And then the church there gave the authority for him to baptize such of that church now who wants. Now, a portion of them do, but if they want to, they can go right along. He's got the authority of this church to baptize. All right, just to do the Lord's will, folk, there's something that rejoices our hearts in doing. Do you know that there are three days out of the week, well, I ought to say four, but especially three days out of the week, that I really live. That's Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Now, I really live those days. Get tired? Yes, sir, I get tired. All of that. But I don't get tired of it. Because looking at truth is like looking at jewels. a diamond. Every way you turn that diamond, there's a flash that comes from every facet of the diamond. That's the way it is, and I want to know just as much as I possibly can what is revealed in the Word of God about the coming age that's coming over. Because, folks, we are heirs of God. equal as with Jesus Christ. Well now, just a minute. What's that air? What are we going to air? I wish that I could air about ten or twelve thousand dollars today. And just as quickly as I could, I'd go put me in an order for a wheelchair lift van. Well, my, my, that won't even be in the picture of what's going to be in the next age there, folks. And the biggest thing I want that thing for is so I can be just a little freer to get around and I won't be quite as much a burden to my sick wife. Airing something means to have the participation in the administration of some property. And this is going to be all the way to the very top of the government of the millennium and then on the final gold age. All right. But religion of this world, the devil's religion and so on, they want to over Burden the people, but they won't do anything to lift the least of that burden. How many of you know Mrs. Myers here that comes to school? Okay. Mrs. Myers is a converted Catholic. When she and her husband came here, they got out to Europe. Oh, there's some word just before it went. totally communist or something. And they hadn't more than gotten settled in this part of the country until her husband got sick. And so she was trying to find a Catholic priest to come and visit him, kind of console him a little bit and so on. And finally she located one of them and one of them said, oh, and I said, That's not my territory. And he let her know right quickly that he didn't have anything for anybody except those in his territory, and he didn't look like he was too happy to be involved with them. Well, that raised a question mark in her mind. And it kept on and kept on until she came in connection with the truth and she said well brother L. M. Branch the lady L. M. Branch is the one that had I think more to do with winning her over to Baptist the only thing was she kind of won herself over. I was talking to him one day and he said you know what? He said if I'm baptized I'm going to be a Baptist and I'm not. He says, that's it exactly. And that woman is so happy, so happy, and she looks back all those years of the burden of the religion. And where I saw such a burden of it, it actually hurt me. I watched the funeral on TV of President Kennedy. And still at the graveside service, that priest was asking God to forgive the sin, the sin of John F. Kennedy. And that's about all he'd been doing all the way through every service. And I just got the feeling, well, my, my, my. You just keep on asking, asking, and you never have one consolation whatsoever. And they walked away from the cemetery having asked God to forgive the sins for him, of him, with no consolation that God had done anything. Well, he hadn't because he was approached the wrong way and everything. that was a kind of a burnt religion that they were under, you see. So, hope that lets us see what this thing can come down to when people will misrepresent the thing. All right. Let's go to At least we can get a little introduction to the next 23, verses 16 and 24. I guess I'm going to get back to where Matthew got out of the Book of Acts here. All right, Matthew 23 and 16. Woe to you blind guides who say if anyone swears by the sanctuary of the temple, it's nothing. But if anyone swears by the gold of the sanctuary, he is a debtor bound by his oath. Now what gives the value to the gold in the first place? The sanctuary. But it's nothing. If you swear by the sanctuary, that's nothing. But now if you swear by the gold, oh boy, that's something else. All right. Now then, let's go to verse 24. You blind guides filtering out a nap and gulping down a camel. Folk, do you see the inconsistency of this thing? Now that's a thing that you will find out as you pursue the truth. God's truth will always be consistent. Whereas the false will be inconsistent. Now, just let me point up a thing. The Camelot comes along and says, now you've got to obey the gospel and in obedience to the gospel be baptized. And then they'll come along and say, well now you can't know whether or not you are really saved until you get up there to the judgment. Well, not just a minute. Didn't you say that this baptism saved? And then you come along and say, no, you can't tell where you're saved. Besides that, you can lose it. Don't you see the inconsistency that's involved in it? If baptism saved, then it would be all the way, wouldn't it? So just notice, and that's the thing that I'm noting more as I go along, is the glorious consistency of God's word as the truth. The truth. Now, someone says one of the great things about always telling the truth. You don't have to think back what you told before. So, in other words, the point is this, if you tell a lie one time, why then, you better remember what you said, because next time, if you don't remember that, why, you may tell the truth then, they'll get you in a lie. But the point is, it's always truth. Always truth. All right. Now already we have considered the force of this illustration and the utter absurdity and futility of a blind man trying to lead another blind man. Added emphasis, blind guys. Here we have one fatal result. of their erroneous teaching. Not only were they blind, they blinded others. These supposed spiritual guides who should have known the way and led others along in could not see, destitute of the spiritual vision of relative values. Their teachings were blurred and false. If blind, if guides are blind, how can they guide? Now that's just how truthfully it is. If I'm blind, how can I guide you? to the door over here or anywhere else. So you see how logical the truth of God is and how, just how bad