#100 Lu. 11:44  PEOPLE WHO NEED TO BE SAVED WHOM YOU MIGHT NEVER
SUSPECT ARE LOST

Introduction: In this text Jesus points out that a lot of people
need to get saved, who are not really aware that they are lost.  A
lot of people are lost and need to get saved, that even we
Christians may never realize are lost.

I.  The difficulty of knowing if one is lost or saved

    I want you to look me over.  I want you to look me over real
close.  I want you to see if you can tell by looking at me whether
I am saved and headed for heaven or whether I'm lost and headed
for hell.  Now I can assure you that when I was sixteen years of
age I trusted in Jesus Christ as my Savior and He saved my soul.
I am saved and I know beyond any shadow of doubt that I am saved.
But I dare say that just by looking at me you cannot tell whether
I am saved or unsaved.
    The same thing is true with anybody else.  You can look
someone over and you cannot tell just by looking whether that
person is saved or lost.  The same thing is true with anybody
anywhere no matter who they are or where they are.
    It is equally true that nobody can look at you and tell just
by looking whether or not you are saved.  You know--or at least
you can know.  The Apostle Paul knew that he was saved.  In I
Corinthians 1:18 he said, "For the preaching of the cross is to
them that perish, foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is
the power of God." Paul knew that he was saved and it you are
saved, you, too, can know it.
    Now if you do more than just look the individual over--if you
watch his conduct on a day by day basis, if he really is saved,
you should find some evidence in his conduct that would convince
you that  he is saved.  If there has been a change on the inside,
there ought also to be a change on the outside.  If he has been
born again by the Holy Spirit of God, there ought to be some
evidence of that new birth in the way he lives.
     As a general rule you will see sufficient evidence in the
life of the saved to convince you that he has been born again.  As
Jesus said on one occasion, "...by their works ye shall know
them."
    That is the general rule.  However, even though this is true
as a general rule, there are exceptions.  It is still sometimes
very difficult to tell even by watching one's life on a daily
basis whether he is saved or lost.  Sometimes, the outward change
in the life of the saved is so small that you can hardly tell the
difference between the way he lives and the way the unsaved live.
    Then sometimes the outward conduct of the unsaved is so
commendable that you can hardly tell them from the saved.
Sometimes it is not that the saved are living so badly, but that
the unsaved are you living so good that it makes it difficult for
one to tell them from the saved.
    Such was the case with the Pharisees in our text this morning.
If you had been living in that day to watch their daily conduct,
you would not be able to tell by their conduct that they were lost
and on the road to hell.

II.  The woe that Jesus pronounced on the Pharisees

    In this text we hear Jesus pronounce woe on the Pharisees for
the third time.  At least, this is the third time in the list as
recorded by Luke.
    Let me remind you that the word, woe, means suffering.  It
means extreme suffering.  It means anguish.  I means severe pain.
It means catastrophe.  Jesus is talking about that time when the
Pharisees would face God in judgment and be cast into the Lake of
Fire and Brimstone.  Therein the Lake of Fire and Brimstone they
will suffer untold agony forever and forever.
    The reason that we cannot accurately judge another individual
and know positively whether that person is saved or lost is
because we can only see only the outside.  We can see only the
outward appearance and the outward conduct.  God and God alone
sees the inside.  God alone sees the real condition of the man.
    Jesus uses an illustration in our text to point out the true
spiritual condition of the Pharisees.  V. 44,  "Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which
appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of
them." The law of Moses required that if anyone should touch a
dead body or anything pertaining to a dead body that person would
be ceremonially unclean for several days and could not enter into
the temple of God at Jerusalem during that time.  Even if they
should touch the stones of a grave then they were ceremonially
unclean.
     Therefore, it was the practice of the Jews to whitewash the
stones on the graves throughout all the land.  This was done once
every year.
    However, it was inevitable that some of the graves would be
neglected and the stones would not get whitewashed.  It would not
take long those graves to be covered over with weeds, bushes and
trees.  People would walk right over them and never recognize them
as graves.
    Then, too, the graves of the very poor were usually not marked
by stones at all and they would very rapidly be covered over with
undergrowth and would become unrecognizable as graves.
    One would walk right over one of these graves and not be aware
that he had walked over a grave.  One might actually be standing
right on top of a grave and never realize that he was standing on
a grave.  Just by standing on the top surface of the ground he
would never know that he was standing over the stinking, rotting,
decaying flesh of dead human bodies.  Usually there was more than
one dead body buried in a grave.  There would be many dead bodies
in one grave.  If a man were able to look down beneath the surface
of the ground and see the inside of the grave, he would see the
corruption that lay underneath the surface.
    Jesus said that this is what the Pharisees were like.
Outwardly you would not be able to tell the difference between
them and those who were Christians.  Just by watching their
outward conduct you might never know whether they were saved or
unsaved.  By their outward conduct you might never know just how
extremely wicked they were down on the inside.
    But if you could see down on the inside as God sees, then you
would see that these were extremely wicked men and were lost in
sin and unbelief.
    Jesus said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites..."  They were lost.  They were unsaved.  They would
someday stand before God in judgment. Then the wickedness of their
hearts will be exposed.  They will be judged and sentenced
according to their wickedness.  They will be punished according to
their wickedness.  They will pay the penalty for their sin before
God.  But the sad thing is, they will pay that price forever.
They have sinned for a lifetime, but they will pay the price
forever.
    God sees the inside and God knows the sinful thoughts and
sinful motives that are on the inside.  When there is rebellion in
the heart against the will of God, God can see it.  When there is
a lack of worship of God in the heart, God can see that lack of
worship.  When there is rebellion in the heart, God can see it.
When there is bitterness and anger and hatred against one's fellow
man in the heart, God can see it.  When there is envy and jealousy
God can see it.  When there is covetousness, God can see it.
    But let me point out something else to you. Jesus did not
pronounce this woe on the Pharisees just to get them told.  He did
not pronounce it to them in anger.  Jesus did not say this to them
in order to make them feel bad. Jesus told them this because they
desperately needed to wake up to their sinful condition.  They
needed to understand that they were wicked sinners in the sight of
God.  They were lost and on the road to hell.  They needed to
repent of their sin and get saved.

III.  The need of a lot of people today

    Listen, there are a lot of people in the world today that are
like the Pharisees.  From the earthly point of view, they are good
people.  They are good neighbors.  They pay their bills.  They are
peaceable.  If you call on them for a favor, they are glad to help
you.  They live morally clean lives and they don't bother anybody.
    From the earthly point of view, you cannot tell any difference
between them and the saved.  There is not all that much difference
between the way they live and the way that the saved people live.
Judging them by their outward conduct, You would think that they
just might be saved.
    But they are not saved.  God looks on the inside and he sees a
heart that has never been born again.  He sees a heart that is
still in rebellion against Him.  He sees a heart that is still
unrepentant.  He sees a heart that is filled with a lot of bad
sins that you never see in the conduct of their lives.
    These people are lost in their sins and on the road to hell.
They need to realize that they are lost and hell bound.  They need
to realize that they are steeped in sin.  They need to realize
that salvation is not obtained by living good and being a good
neighbor.  They need to turn to Jesus Christ and be saved.
    But there is more to it than that.  There is more to it than
just what the lost need to do.  I want to point out to you what we
who are saved need to do.  We who are saved need to get burdened
about our friends and our neighbors who are so lost in sin.  We
need to get burdened about our brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews,
cousins and in-laws.  We need to get so burdened about their souls
that we will make a conscious effort on our part to win them to
Christ and salvation.
    The greater number of people who repent of their sins and get
saved, do not just happen to come to their senses and turn to the
Lord.  They first have some Christian to get concerned about them.
They first have some Christian to pray for them that they might be
saved.  They first have some Christian who makes the first move to
get them to come to Christ.  They have some Christian in whom they
have confidence to approach them and ask them about their soul if
they are right with God.  Or perhaps they have some Christian who
will just ask them to come to church.  Then they will come to
church, hear the gospel and have a better chance of being saved.
    We know what the lost ought to do.  They ought to repent of
their sin and trust in Jesus Christ.  But what about us Christians
doing what we ought to do.  Listen, folks, may God help us to wake
up to our responsibility of trying to bring lost people to Christ
that they might be saved.

Conclusion:

    Listen, if there is anybody here this morning who has never
been saved, I want to tell you something.  You had better wake up
to the fact that you are a sinner in the sight of God and that you
are headed for hell.  You had better do something about it before
it is too late.  If you wait until you stand before God in
judgment and you are sentenced to the Lake of Fire and Brimstone
there will never be anything you can do about it then.  There is
something you can do about it now.  There is something you can do
about it right now right here in this service today.  You can call
upon the Lord Jesus Christ and ask Him to be your Savior.  You can
confess to Him that you are a sinner in His sight and you can ask
Him to save you from your sin.  Now beyond that, there is nothing
in this world that you can do.
    It is all up to Jesus to do the saving.  It is all up to Him
to take care of the business of keeping you out of hell.  It is
all up to Jesus to see to the business of getting you inside the
gates of Heaven.  But it is up to you to come and trust your soul
into the hands of Jesus.  Won't you come and trust Jesus today?
    There may be some Christian here this morning who needs a
church home.  By church home I don't just mean a church to attend,
I mean a church to be a member of and a church you can help to do
the work of the Lord.  We invite you to come and move your
membership here with us.
    There may be some Christian here this morning who is already a
member of this church who needs to get committed to the task of
trying to reach out to those who are lost in sin and trying to win
your friends and your loved ones to the Lord.  Once they are in
the fires of hell it will be too late to say, "Oh, how I wish I
had just invited them to church.  Oh, how I wish I had talked to
them about the Lord."  I am asking that right now you commit
yourself to the task of doing whatever you might can do to win
them to Christ and salvation.