The Evil Birds Are Here

Titus chapter 3, and reading from verse 4.

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Now will you turn back with me to the Gospel of Luke chapter 13 and verse 10. Luke chapter 13 and verse 10.

Reading in the Gospel of Luke chapter 13 and verse 10.

Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, ‘Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.’ And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and he said to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which men ought to work. Therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.’

The Lord then answered him and said, ‘Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, think of it, for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?’ And when He had said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame. And all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.

Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And what shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden. And it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”

On Sunday, February the 17th, 1991, Pastor Charles Reinert stood up before a congregation of about a hundred people at the Faith Tabernacle Congregation, which is a church located in Philadelphia. The atmosphere in the church was filled with fear and tension. Pastor Reinert told his congregation that even though the church was regarded as a cult they were simply doing what God had directed in His word to be done. And he added, “When we see God on our side there is no fear.” But the fear was very real.

You see, this was only February. And already in this year four children from families that attended Faith Tabernacle Congregation had died of measles. Another child who attended a similar church had also died of measles. You see, Faith Tabernacle Congregation believed in divine healing. And they resisted all forms of medical treatment, including immunization and medication.

During the service that I am telling you about, a message was read from the father of two little girls who had died. The message went something like this: “God has allowed the authorities to treat us very well. We believe that that is to the glory of God. We thank God that our neighbors have not harassed us or ridiculed us at all.”

After the service was over Pastor Reinert told the media that his congregation was handling it well and that this was drawing them together as one body. But the city of Philadelphia was concerned. Starting on the previous Thursday night teams from two hospitals and one from the city itself had started going door to door visiting the families that attended Faith Tabernacle Congregation and also visiting the families of those that attended a very similar church, the First Century Gospel Church.

Even that very day, although the authorities were very careful not to criticize the beliefs of the parents, even that very day they had secured a court order that a preschool child should be placed in the hospital. A man by the name of Robert Ross, who served as the deputy city health commissioner, told the media that although they were being gentle with the parents, that by Sunday night they had examined 447 children, of which 41 had measles. That was just slightly under 10 percent. Thirty of them would receive daily visitations. One of them had been voluntarily transferred to the hospital. And they found that most of the children that they examined had had measles and had recovered. And that was a blessing.

But the bottom line was still an ugly, ugly tragedy. Five children were dead in the name of religion. Five children had died in the name of God. And the assurance of the pastor that they were only doing what God had directed them to do on the pages of His word was totally and completely false.

And it seems to me that this very striking story underlines for us and it highlights for us what I shall call the tragedy of American religion. The tragedy of American religion. Countless men, women, and children being led astray by misguided and misguided leaders.

And if the only thing that we had to worry about was the death of children that would be enough to cause deep grief and concern. But the problem is deeper. And the problem is much more serious than that. Because as a result of false doctrine men, women, and children are being led to the very brink of eternal damnation.

And because this is a solemn fact, because it is a serious fact, I would like to talk to you about it a little bit this morning under the following title. My title is The Evil Birds Are Here. That is the title of my message this morning. The Evil Birds Are Here.

Now the drama that we have read about in the passage of scripture before us today, the drama that unfolds in this passage of scripture, was played out on a stage in a synagogue somewhere in the land of Palestine. And of course Jesus is at the center of that drama. But so is someone else. And his name is the ruler of the synagogue.

Now please understand that this man was a man of importance and prestige in his own community. He was the director of the synagogue service. He was an important man. And on this particular day he had witnessed something very remarkable. A woman who probably came regularly to that synagogue had walked into the synagogue meeting all hunched over. And then a famous rabbi who had been traveling all around the land of Palestine also appeared in that synagogue. And he approached this woman. And he said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And then he laid his hands on her. And she straightened up. And for the first time she could stand perfectly erect for the very first time in eighteen years.

So what did the ruler of the synagogue do? Did he get up in front of the congregation and say, “People, I would like to lead this congregation in a prayer of praise for the marvelous thing that we have seen done in our synagogue today”? No, he did not do that. Did he get up and say, “I would like to lead this congregation in a round of applause for Rabbi Jesus who has just performed this remarkable miracle”? No, he did not do that either.

This is what he did. He got up in front of his congregation and he said, “People, there are six days in which a person ought to work. Therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.”

Say what? Say what, mister? What in the world is going through your mind? Well, all that that woman did was to walk to the synagogue as she probably did every Sabbath day. And there was nothing in the law of God that forbade that. And all that Jesus had done was to speak words to her and put hands on her. And those actions were not forbidden by the law of Moses or the law of the Sabbath day. Mister, are you trying to tell us that something in the nature of work has gone on here in the healing of this woman? What in the world is going through your mind?

Well folks, let me tell you what was going through his mind. In fact the scripture tells us what was going through his mind. He was indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day.

Now if we consult certain passages in Matthew, Mark, and Luke we will discover that this man was thinking like most of the Pharisees were thinking. They had it in for Jesus because Jesus healed every day of the week. And with that twisted logic that is so common in legalistic minds they had figured out that if He did it six days of the week He ought not to do it the seventh day of the week. And if He did it the seventh day of the week it was breaking the law of God.

And do not you see the idiotic, utterly irresponsible conclusion to which this line of thinking led? In effect the ruler of the synagogue was saying the mercy of God is forbidden by the law of God. The mercy of God is forbidden by the law of God. How dare Jesus be merciful to this woman on the Sabbath day? The law does not allow it.

Now you may be out there thinking something like this. One thing, this guy was a synagogue ruler and he lived, you know, way, way, way back when. And he and all his fellow Pharisees have long since passed off the scene. And what in the world does this have to do with us?

Oh hold on a whole, whole lot. You see there are people today who think along similar lines. And they believe that the mercy of God is prohibited by the law of God. In fact this is the way people are thinking and teaching when they present the doctrine that we often call lordship salvation.

You see people who teach lordship salvation tell us that it is not enough simply to put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the free gift of everlasting life. That God’s mercy must somehow be conditioned and constrained by consideration of His law. And therefore those who teach lordship salvation tell us that we also need to be willing to obey His law. We need to submit to the will of God. We need to yield ourselves to the lordship of Christ. And we need to follow through. Because if we do not, no salvation has occurred at all.

And they refuse to consider that the mercy of God can be imparted totally apart from God’s law. What does the Bible say? To be more specific, Luke was a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul. What did Paul say? We read some of his words a moment or two ago.

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy.” According to His mercy He saved us. And then Paul wrote this shocker. “To him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” And he also wrote, “But now the righteousness of God is revealed, even the righteousness of God that is to all and on all that believe.”

And my dear friends this morning, if you and I are saved at all that has nothing, nothing, nothing to do with the law of God. Just as the healing of this woman in the synagogue had nothing to do with the law of Moses, nothing to do with the Sabbath law, so your salvation and mine has absolutely nothing to do with the righteousness of works or obedience to the law or surrender or submission. It is an act of totally undeserved mercy and grace from God.

About eight years ago outside of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, some vandals got into a railroad siding which belonged to the Phoenixville Steel Company. And they opened the spigots on twenty-eight tank cars that were sitting in that siding. The result of their vandalism was, I kid you not, a four-hundred-thousand-gallon lake of corn syrup. Corn syrup. And the next morning the authorities were wading through corn syrup up to their ankles and trying to turn off the spigots on the tank cars. But most of them were already empty.

Tom Fulbright, who was the president of American Sweeteners Incorporated who owned the corn syrup, said it would take about a week to clean up the mess. But authorities were anxious to get it done because they were afraid that the sea of syrup would attract the bees as a similar suspicious spill from one of the tank cars had done just a few days before. And the bottom line was this. That a sea of syrup, in some places eight to ten inches deep, had spread over an area of a quarter of a mile. And the value of the syrup was five hundred thousand dollars.

I cannot resist saying I wonder who got stuck with the bill.

And my dear friends this morning some vandals have gotten into the Christian church. And they have opened the spigots of false doctrine. And what they have released is theological syrup. I am sorry to tell you this morning that there are countless believers who are stuck in that this very day.

Thank God however that there are many people who still recognize and appreciate the simple grace of God. Thank God there are so many preachers who continue to preach it. And I just want to say something to you folks. One of my biggest thrills here at Greenwood Hills during this conference has been this. On two successive Saturday nights the privilege of hearing Tom Taylor present the gospel in all of its simplicity and clarity. We need more preachers like that. May their tribe increase. And may the number of proclaimers of the gospel increase who are able to say with the songwriter,

“Come, every soul by sin oppressed, there’s mercy with the Lord. And He will surely give you rest by trusting in His word. Only trust Him, only trust Him, only trust Him now. He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now.”

Well we were a little surprised by the words of the ruler of the synagogue, right? But we could be almost equally surprised by the words with which Jesus replies to him. Jesus does not say, “Sir, I believe that you are a little confused. Let me see if I can help you to think a little straighter.” And Jesus does not say, “Sir, I see we have a theological difference. And perhaps we should not discuss that theological difference out here in front of the entire congregation. Maybe we should meet privately and see if we can iron out our differences and not confuse the people.”

He did not say either of those things, did He? You know what He said? He said, “Hypocrite! Hypocrite! Hypocrite! Does not each one of you untie his donkey or his ox on the Sabbath day, take him out of the stall, and lead him to water? And should not this woman who has been bound by Satan for eighteen years, think of it, should she not be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

Now folks I cannot prove this. But you know I am willing to bet that that synagogue ruler owned either a donkey or an ox. And I will bet he went to the stall every Sabbath day, untied his donkey or untied his ox, and led it to water. That was an act of mercy, yeah. But it was more than an act of mercy.

You see if you left your donkey or your ox tied up in a hot Palestinian stall all day long, by the time you came out the next day you might have a dead or dying ox or donkey. And if you were a farmer you needed that ox to plow your field. And if you were a merchant you needed that donkey to pull the cart that carried your goods to market. Yes, this was an act of mercy. But it was also an act of economic self-interest. Economic self-interest.

And Jesus said, “You hypocrite! You would be merciful because it pays off for you to be merciful to your donkey or your ox. But you do not have the time of day for the mercy that God has just extended to this woman after eighteen years of bondage by Satan. You hypocrite! You hypocrite!”

Will you permit me to say this? I do not know of any doctrine taught in Christendom today that is more likely to produce hypocrisy than lordship salvation. Here comes a lordship salvation person to me. And he says something like this. He says, “Zane, I really do not think that a person can be going to heaven if after their so-called conversion they continue to do the works of the flesh, if they commit adultery, if they are unclean, if they are immoral. I just cannot believe that a person like that is ever going to make it to heaven.”

You know what I am going to say to that person? I am going to say, “You hypocrite! You hypocrite! Has there never been a time since you were born again, since you made a profession of faith, that you lost your temper? Have you never felt the movies in your heart of selfish ambition? Have you never engaged in an unkind and brutal argument with somebody that you disagreed with? Have you never had any feelings of hatred toward people who had done you wrong? You hypocrite!”

Yes, the things that you have mentioned are the works of the flesh. They are mentioned in Galatians 5: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery. But then they are followed by hatred, contention, jealousy, outbursts of anger, dissensions, heresies, envy. You show me a person who is free from all that and I will show you an angel. You hypocrite!

That guy over there is doing X, Y, and Z. You do not think he is going to heaven. But if it is your donkey, if it was your ox, hey, that is different. God is merciful. You are doing A, B, and C. Hypocrisy.

What does the Apostle Paul have to say about all this? He says, “We know that whatever things the law says it says to them who are under the law that every mouth might be stopped and all the world become guilty before God.” If you are trying to verify your conversion by your obedience to God’s will, forget it. It only serves to confront you with your guilt.

You think that is bad? Listen to the words of James. “Whoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” He is guilty of all.

And if the lordship person comes to me and they say to me, “Zane, I think maybe my life is good enough that I can claim to be a born-again Christian,” I am going to say to him, “No it is not. No, no, no. Your life is not good enough for that. Nor is anybody’s life good enough for that.” And if that is why you think you are a Christian it may be that you do not understand the gospel. And that you are the one who needs to be saved. You are the one who needs to cast away all confidence in works of righteousness. And you need to be able to say with the songwriter,

“Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, because Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”

And it just may be, although Luke does not tell us this directly, but it just may be that it was in that very synagogue where he had this confrontation with the ruler of the synagogue that Jesus spoke the two parables that are recorded next in the passage that we read.

And Jesus says, “I would like to compare My kingdom to a tiny little mustard seed that grows into a big tree. And after it has grown into a big tree the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. And I would also like to compare My kingdom to three measures of meal in which nothing has been planted. And the leaven spreads until the entire measure of meal is leavened.”

And do I need to remind you that the only place that Jesus uses the birds of the heaven in His parables, the only other place and for this parable, is in the parable of the soils where He Himself said that the birds of the air represented the activities of Satan, the activities of the spirits that are under the control of Satan?

Do I need to remind you, certainly not in Greenwood Hills, that leaven is always a symbol of evil? And one time Jesus warned His disciples against the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And eventually they figured out that He was warning them against the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And speaking as a prophet and looking down the corridor of time Jesus foresees the time in His church when the church will be heavily invaded by the influence of the spirits of Satan and where the church will be permeated from end to end with false doctrine.

Hey, just in case you did not get the bottom line of my message this morning, I denounce lordship salvation. I denounce it as the leaven of false doctrine. I denounce it as a teaching that is furthered by the agency of Satan.

Let me tell you something very frankly. As concerned as we all are about the conflict between Stewards Foundation and Stewards Ministry that conflict pales into insignificance compared to this. Because this is a problem that strikes at our most fundamental beliefs. It strikes at the core of truth that has vibrated in the assembly movement from its very beginning.

And my brothers and sisters I am telling you if we fail here it will not matter ten cents how many fractions the assembly movement divides into. Because we would have lost our fundamental message. We will have become as sounding brass and as a tinkling cymbal. Because we have lost our grip on the unconditional saving grace of God.

Salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone. And assurance is by resting on the promises of God’s word.

And the tragedy of American Christendom today and the tragedy of many assemblies is this. The evil birds are here.

Several years ago I was preaching in east Texas. And in between meetings on a Sunday afternoon I was sitting at the dinner table that had been cleared of everything that had been served for dinner. And across from me there was sitting a young woman who was the wife of the youth minister in that particular church. And as we sat there she told me this story.

She said before going into the ministry her husband had been in the military service. And they had been stationed in southern California. And they had attended a very prominent church in southern California that preaches lordship salvation. I will not name the church. Use your imagination on that.

And she told me that while she was in this church she flipped off between two extremes. Sometimes she felt she was good enough to claim that she was a Christian. And at such times she felt pretty good, maybe even a little proud. But most of the time she was in despair. She was in doubt about her salvation because she could see so many things in her heart and life that were inconsistent with true Christian experience.

And then she said to me, “My husband was transferred out of southern California. And as we drove out of that area,” she said, “I broke down and cried.” She said, “I could just feel the burden of the depression lifting from my shoulders.” She said, “Later my husband was transferred back into southern California. And,” she says, “I begged him, I begged him not to go back to that church.” Unfortunately they did.

And then sitting across the table from me looking me in the eye she said something to me about lordship salvation that no one had ever said before. She said to me, “It is evil. It is evil.”

Yes my friends it is evil. Because it is the product of evil teaching, evil leaven, and the evil spirits of Satan.

But there is a bright side to this coin, is there not? Because whenever false doctrine arises it always, in the hands of God, serves as a backdrop to enhance the beauty and splendor of the truth of God by way of contrast. And in this day when so many people are losing their grip on the grace of God a new sense of appreciation floods our heart when we realize that the simple gospel is still the same. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

And we can sing with fresh appreciation the song we have already sung this morning.

“My faith has found a resting place, not in device nor creed. I trust the ever-living One. For me His wounds shall plead. My heart is leaning on the word, the written word of God. Salvation by my Savior’s name, salvation through His blood. I need no other argument, I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me.”

Shall we pray?

Father, thanks be unto Thee for Thy unspeakable gift. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.