A Savior to the Humble (Luke 18:9-14)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:06.599 Well as returned today. Let us turn to Luke's Gospel and we'll be looking 2 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:14.269 at chapter eighteen, versus nine through fourteen, of Luke. Chapter Eighteen here 3 00:00:14.429 --> 00:00:20.629 now is God's word. He also told this parable to some who trusted in 4 00:00:20.670 --> 00:00:27.219 themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Two men went up 5 00:00:27.260 --> 00:00:31.699 into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 6 00:00:33.060 --> 00:00:37.009 The PHARISEE, standing by himself, prayed thus God, I thank you 7 00:00:37.130 --> 00:00:44.490 that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulters, or even 8 00:00:44.530 --> 00:00:49.609 like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give ties of 9 00:00:49.729 --> 00:00:54.399 all that I get, but the tax collector standing far off would not even 10 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:59.640 lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying God be 11 00:00:59.719 --> 00:01:03.640 merciful to me, a sinner, I tell you, this man went down 12 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:07.590 to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will 13 00:01:07.629 --> 00:01:14.709 be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. On men, 14 00:01:14.790 --> 00:01:19.379 he may be seated. By the time that we reached this passage of 15 00:01:19.459 --> 00:01:25.700 scripture, Jesus has been doing his ministry for quite some time. He has 16 00:01:25.739 --> 00:01:29.739 been performing miracles. He has been a showing in himself the power of God 17 00:01:30.219 --> 00:01:34.890 and he has been teaching and preaching as one with authority, not like the 18 00:01:36.010 --> 00:01:38.849 scribes and the Pharisees and the other leaders that the people were used to hearing. 19 00:01:41.290 --> 00:01:45.129 and Jesus has been proclaiming nothing less than the advent of the Kingdom of 20 00:01:45.170 --> 00:01:49.159 God. He's been saying the Kingdom of God is at hand, it is 21 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:53.719 here, and he himself has as much as shown that he is the king, 22 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:59.040 not only by his works but also but his righteousness, his power in 23 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:02.109 the miracles and his teachings, that he is the one that the people have 24 00:02:02.269 --> 00:02:08.469 been looking forward to as they together as a nation under the thumb of Rome, 25 00:02:08.750 --> 00:02:14.229 were looking for their Messiah, were looking for his savior to redeem them. 26 00:02:15.259 --> 00:02:19.539 But as Jesus has been preaching about the kingdom, one of the things 27 00:02:19.580 --> 00:02:22.740 that has been surprising to the people is that he is taught that his kingdom 28 00:02:22.819 --> 00:02:28.460 is not of this world and their implications to the fact that his kingdom is 29 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:34.009 not of this world. The priorities of the kingdom are not of this world. 30 00:02:34.810 --> 00:02:38.729 The Way God looks at people is not the same way that sinful men 31 00:02:38.289 --> 00:02:44.360 look at people. And the fact that this kingdom is a redemptive kingdom by 32 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:49.520 grace, is one that is fundamentally different with the way that the kingdoms of 33 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:53.360 the world usually work. The way the people get political power, the way 34 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:59.150 that they exalt themselves, the way that they get the privilege and the protection 35 00:02:59.229 --> 00:03:04.229 that they need, is fundamentally different from God and this kingdom then from the 36 00:03:04.270 --> 00:03:08.469 kingdoms that the people are used to. And so there were times when people 37 00:03:08.469 --> 00:03:12.349 would hear what Jesus had to say and they would be happy for the miracles. 38 00:03:12.389 --> 00:03:15.419 They'd be happy, you know, especially when he healed them or when 39 00:03:15.419 --> 00:03:19.620 he multiplied loaves of bread and fishes and they were able to have a wonderful 40 00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:23.659 meal. They loved it when he would, you know, out maneuver the 41 00:03:23.740 --> 00:03:28.009 Pharisees and other people who he was debating and he would win arguments, and 42 00:03:28.889 --> 00:03:30.610 it's kind of like watching a hero on television or something like that, you 43 00:03:30.689 --> 00:03:36.009 know, ultimate fighting championship or something like that. They saw his power and 44 00:03:36.169 --> 00:03:39.770 they heard and saw his wisdom, but they did not always apply to themselves 45 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:46.400 the implications that Jesus was talking about, and so sometimes we even see, 46 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:52.319 sadly, the disciples jockeying with one another for power and acting in a very 47 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:55.509 worldly way, even though they have been brought into a kingdom which is not 48 00:03:55.590 --> 00:04:01.629 of this world. And so Jesus teaches here, among other places, how 49 00:04:01.789 --> 00:04:08.469 different the values and priorities of his kingdom are, and he tells his parable 50 00:04:09.349 --> 00:04:12.860 not just the Pharisees, but to anyone who would think in a worldly way 51 00:04:12.900 --> 00:04:18.860 about how they were to to find their standing before God. And as he 52 00:04:19.019 --> 00:04:21.899 is taught elsewhere, it is not those who exalt themselves, it is not 53 00:04:23.060 --> 00:04:28.930 those who strive and out maneuver one another who get ahead, but rather it 54 00:04:29.050 --> 00:04:31.930 as those who humble themselves, who are servants of all, who will be 55 00:04:32.410 --> 00:04:36.569 exalted. And this also, he says, is the way in which people 56 00:04:36.610 --> 00:04:41.879 enter the Kingdom of God in the first place. And so he tells this 57 00:04:42.120 --> 00:04:46.879 parable to all who might be trusting in themselves that they are righteous, especially 58 00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:51.680 when they use a worldly standards, as we will see, and also those 59 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:57.990 who treat others with contempt. Jesus tells US parable. He says two men 60 00:04:58.069 --> 00:05:02.230 went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a 61 00:05:02.870 --> 00:05:09.860 tax collector. Now, the Pharisees were he might think the the the princes 62 00:05:10.139 --> 00:05:13.019 of the Church of their day. They were looked at as being the most 63 00:05:13.060 --> 00:05:16.420 devoted, the most zealous, the most passionate about the things of God. 64 00:05:16.579 --> 00:05:20.490 If you were to look around and say, you know, if you were 65 00:05:20.529 --> 00:05:25.170 living in that community at that time, and ask yourself, who are the 66 00:05:25.290 --> 00:05:28.649 most religious people, who are the people who are really sold out to God 67 00:05:29.889 --> 00:05:33.250 among us, you would naturally think of these pharisees. They they had separated 68 00:05:33.329 --> 00:05:38.759 themselves from other Jews. They were very strict and very stringent in the law. 69 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:43.120 They knew the law and they knew the traditions that have been handed down 70 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:47.560 from their fathers and they were very zealous about those things and about to things 71 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:55.550 such as purity and ceremonial cleanliness, and they really prided themselves on knowing the 72 00:05:55.589 --> 00:06:00.350 Law and knowing the word of God. And so this Pharisee, you could 73 00:06:00.389 --> 00:06:02.990 almost see him strutting into the temple. You know he's one of these. 74 00:06:03.110 --> 00:06:08.620 He knows it's not only other people who think well of him, but he 75 00:06:08.779 --> 00:06:13.379 thinks well of him too, and he goes to the temple to pray and 76 00:06:13.459 --> 00:06:15.899 we might think, will isn't that natural? The zealous person is going to 77 00:06:15.939 --> 00:06:21.529 the temple to pray. Well, he's not the only one, though. 78 00:06:23.490 --> 00:06:29.089 We see also a tax collector. Now, the tax collectors were basically on 79 00:06:29.209 --> 00:06:32.040 the other end of the spectrum in terms of religiosity, in terms of being 80 00:06:32.839 --> 00:06:38.839 thought of by the people as the vanguards of their faith. These tax collectors 81 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:44.839 were basically sell outs, not to God but to the Romans. If you 82 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:49.629 could think of a more worldly, earthly occupation to have, it would be 83 00:06:49.709 --> 00:06:54.350 hard. These are people who worked for the Romans to collect taxes, to 84 00:06:54.430 --> 00:06:58.910 help with the oppression of the people that the Romans were carrying out, and 85 00:06:59.069 --> 00:07:02.699 they did this to their own prophet. This was their business to help the 86 00:07:02.740 --> 00:07:09.259 Roman Empire collect taxes and to make a profit for themselves besides. And these 87 00:07:09.339 --> 00:07:15.459 people were known for having abuse of tendencies, because they're incentive was simply profit. 88 00:07:15.579 --> 00:07:17.370 They wanted to make money, and so to them they were thinking like 89 00:07:17.490 --> 00:07:20.769 businessman. They would do anything they could to make a buck, even if 90 00:07:20.810 --> 00:07:27.730 it was the expense of their fellow Israelites. And so the Israelites looked at 91 00:07:27.769 --> 00:07:31.800 them really as collaborators, much like someone in France or Holland might look at 92 00:07:31.800 --> 00:07:34.920 it. Someone as a collaborator during World War II who, you know, 93 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.720 went along with the Nazis and and helped them at the time when they were 94 00:07:39.720 --> 00:07:45.430 invading Europe. Most of the Jews despise them and certainly the Pharisees would not 95 00:07:45.470 --> 00:07:48.509 have thought that they were in the same league and the same category as themselves. 96 00:07:50.750 --> 00:07:56.350 And so these two men are there at the temple praying, they come 97 00:07:56.430 --> 00:07:59.980 before God, before the place that God has set his name. They're in 98 00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:07.139 Jerusalem, and the Pharisee we read stands by himself and he praised us. 99 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:13.089 He says God, I thank you that I am not like other men. 100 00:08:15.850 --> 00:08:20.290 He starts out with this PSALMA thanks. I mean that's a good thing, 101 00:08:20.329 --> 00:08:24.370 right to thank God, to give God thanks, but he goes on not 102 00:08:24.490 --> 00:08:26.009 to list the things that God has done, but he goes on to list 103 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:31.240 down his checklist the ways that he is not like other men, the ways 104 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.799 that he is in a separate category all by himself and not like these other 105 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:41.669 sinners. He says, I thank you that I am not like extortioners, 106 00:08:43.230 --> 00:08:48.389 that is, those who who take money by force. This word could also 107 00:08:48.389 --> 00:08:52.830 be translated robbers or swindlers, people who either physically steal something from others or 108 00:08:52.870 --> 00:08:58.779 who blackmail them and connive and engage in corruption to get money from other people. 109 00:08:58.860 --> 00:09:03.220 He says, I thank you that I am not like them. And 110 00:09:03.379 --> 00:09:09.899 going along with that, he mentions next the unjust, and this word could 111 00:09:09.899 --> 00:09:13.450 refer generally to people who are thought of as wicked, like you know, 112 00:09:13.490 --> 00:09:16.529 if you think about a neighborhood that you're going to move into, you you 113 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:20.769 kind of learned about the bad side of town where the undesirable people live, 114 00:09:20.610 --> 00:09:26.639 the people who are kind of lawless and maybe they're in a gang. He 115 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:31.200 says, I'm not like those unjust people. Or this could even refer to 116 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:35.360 those who are in positions of power, like judges who take a bribe those 117 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:43.990 who are perverted in their justice. Interestingly, these first two descriptions, one 118 00:09:45.029 --> 00:09:50.029 of extortioner and one of being unjust, could have very well fit the reputation 119 00:09:50.309 --> 00:09:54.740 of the other man who is at the temple, the tax collector, because 120 00:09:54.740 --> 00:10:01.379 they too were often unjust and thieves when they collected their money. You recall 121 00:10:01.460 --> 00:10:03.940 what Zach he has did it when he converted, when Jesus called him down 122 00:10:03.980 --> 00:10:07.450 from the tree, said this day I get back five times what I've stolen 123 00:10:07.490 --> 00:10:16.769 from other people see. He used his power unjustly to steal. And so 124 00:10:16.889 --> 00:10:20.769 we see this interesting paradox here with these two men standing at the temple and 125 00:10:20.809 --> 00:10:24.080 the pharisee distances themselves and he says, I'm glad I'm not like that guy. 126 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:28.759 I'm glad I'm not like an adulter or even like this tax collector. 127 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:35.990 He puts him in this same category. We've heard during his campaign season the 128 00:10:35.070 --> 00:10:39.549 phrase basket of deplorables. Well, that's basically what this Pharisee is doing. 129 00:10:39.789 --> 00:10:43.909 He's putting all these people in this basket, this category, and he's separating 130 00:10:43.909 --> 00:10:48.110 himself from that category, saying I'm not like these people and I thank you 131 00:10:48.190 --> 00:10:54.779 God that I am better than them. And so he begins to describe himself. 132 00:10:54.700 --> 00:11:00.460 As he prays to God. He says I fast twice a week and 133 00:11:00.620 --> 00:11:05.129 I get ties of all that I get now he, like many of the 134 00:11:05.169 --> 00:11:09.850 Pharisees, was going well above and beyond what the law demanded. God demanded 135 00:11:09.929 --> 00:11:16.370 only on certain times that the Israelites fast. It was nowhere close to being 136 00:11:16.490 --> 00:11:18.679 on a weekly basis. And this guy fast twice a week. That means 137 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:24.360 two days a week he's not eating but he's using that as part of his 138 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:28.679 religious service and devotion to God. And he also says I give ties of 139 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:33.990 all that I get. Indeed, going above and beyond the law. The 140 00:11:35.070 --> 00:11:37.470 the law commanded that you give a ten of your harvest. If you brought 141 00:11:37.509 --> 00:11:41.789 in, you know, wats or even with your animals, you were to 142 00:11:41.830 --> 00:11:45.830 give a tenth of them to the Lord. But, as Jesus mentions, 143 00:11:46.190 --> 00:11:50.340 these folks were so scrupulous, these scribes and Pharisees, that they would even 144 00:11:50.379 --> 00:11:54.539 tithe on their little garden plants. They're dill and they're mints and their human 145 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:56.860 and all these other things. They would tie on that and give a tenth 146 00:11:56.980 --> 00:12:03.970 on that. And there's one commentator who who mentions that's just to be sure 147 00:12:05.929 --> 00:12:09.450 that everything, every produce that they took in, was tithed on. They 148 00:12:09.490 --> 00:12:13.769 would even tie them what they bought in the marketplace because maybe the person, 149 00:12:13.889 --> 00:12:18.600 maybe the farmer, who grew that produce didn't tie enough, and so just 150 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:22.279 to close that loophole, they would tieth even when they bought produce from the 151 00:12:22.279 --> 00:12:24.360 market place. They would tie it on that too. They were so scrupulous. 152 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:28.559 They wanted to make sure they were squeaky squeaky clean. They went above 153 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:39.470 and beyond and in their mind they were completely righteous. Now, if we 154 00:12:39.590 --> 00:12:43.820 think about you know, if you were part of a religious community, religious 155 00:12:43.820 --> 00:12:48.980 society, and you had to ask yourself who are the most righteous people, 156 00:12:50.580 --> 00:12:54.259 who are the ones who are the most passionate about God, it would be 157 00:12:54.539 --> 00:12:56.379 him. There'd be no question about that. In the eyes of man, 158 00:12:56.460 --> 00:13:01.649 in the eyes of other people, it was clearly these pharisees who are the 159 00:13:01.690 --> 00:13:07.889 most zealous. Well, by contrast to that, Jesus next mentions the tax 160 00:13:09.049 --> 00:13:15.639 collector. He stands by himself, but it's because he's standing far off. 161 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:20.039 He does not get too close to God, even though he's come to the 162 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:22.720 temple to pray, even though he gets close to where God's presence was, 163 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:30.269 he doesn't get too close. He stands far off and he does not even 164 00:13:30.309 --> 00:13:35.830 lift his eyes to heaven. He doesn't want the spotlight on himself. He 165 00:13:35.950 --> 00:13:41.620 doesn't want the emphasis on his works, because he doesn't have anything that he 166 00:13:41.700 --> 00:13:43.220 is proud of. He's not even willing to look God in the eyes, 167 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:50.500 so to speak, but rather he beats his breast, which is a sign 168 00:13:50.539 --> 00:13:58.529 of humility, a sign of debasing himself before God. And he simply says 169 00:13:58.570 --> 00:14:03.730 to God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He does not exalt 170 00:14:03.730 --> 00:14:07.809 himself, he does not want the light of God's justice to fall upon him, 171 00:14:09.690 --> 00:14:13.000 he does not want to enumerate all the different things that he has done. 172 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:20.480 He simply puts himself in the category of this center and begs the Lord 173 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:26.870 word for nothing more than mercy. Now, in many English bibles this is 174 00:14:26.950 --> 00:14:31.389 translated as a sinner and one might get the sense that he is simply saying 175 00:14:31.429 --> 00:14:35.669 I am a sinner like many others, and so he is asking for God's 176 00:14:35.710 --> 00:14:39.740 mercy. But in the Greek it's unmistakable. The definite article is used here. 177 00:14:39.779 --> 00:14:43.340 He's saying I am the sinner. He's saying I know, between me 178 00:14:43.460 --> 00:14:46.899 and the Pharisee, there's no comparison. I'm not the good guy in this 179 00:14:48.299 --> 00:14:50.059 comparison. I'm not the good guy in the situation. I am the sinner. 180 00:14:52.009 --> 00:14:58.889 And more than that, he may even be saying absolutely that I am 181 00:14:58.929 --> 00:15:01.370 the greatest sinner. The way that Paul talks about himself is being the chief 182 00:15:01.450 --> 00:15:07.090 of sinners. He's saying if you were to look up the word center in 183 00:15:07.129 --> 00:15:09.360 the dictionary, my picture would be there. That's who I am. I 184 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:16.159 am the sinner in this situation. And so he casts not the good lights 185 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:18.240 of God scrutiny upon Him, but he casts himself in the worst light possible 186 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:26.029 and he says, God be merciful to me. He throws himself upon God's 187 00:15:26.070 --> 00:15:31.750 grace. And the result of this, Jesus says, is I tell you, 188 00:15:31.909 --> 00:15:39.220 this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone 189 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:43.139 who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be 190 00:15:43.259 --> 00:15:50.529 exalted. And we might ask ourselves at this point, why is it that 191 00:15:50.690 --> 00:15:56.809 the Pharisee goes home not justified? I mean, yes, maybe he was, 192 00:15:58.649 --> 00:16:00.529 maybe he was a little self centered, maybe who was focusing on himself. 193 00:16:00.649 --> 00:16:06.240 But but if he's right, if he really is, that just what's 194 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:11.840 the problem? And the answer is that, even though he did look good 195 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:17.000 on the outside, even though other people might have looked at him as being 196 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:18.750 at the vanguard of their faith, as being one of the most righteous and 197 00:16:18.789 --> 00:16:25.750 zealous people in their community, God could see things that other people could not 198 00:16:25.909 --> 00:16:29.950 see. And that is the situation with us too. You might look at 199 00:16:29.990 --> 00:16:32.899 somebody and you might look at their religiosity. You might look at their church 200 00:16:32.940 --> 00:16:34.820 attendance, or you know that what they put in the offering, play it, 201 00:16:34.860 --> 00:16:37.980 or the different ways that they volunteer, which are all good things. 202 00:16:40.340 --> 00:16:44.779 Nothing against charity, nothing against volunteerism, and we may come away saying that 203 00:16:44.980 --> 00:16:48.529 person is truly righteous, that person could stand before God and be acquitted. 204 00:16:51.090 --> 00:16:53.610 And yet if we think that, if we stop there, we fail to 205 00:16:53.649 --> 00:16:59.330 realize that God's sight, his vision, is much more penetrating than ours. 206 00:17:00.690 --> 00:17:04.079 For God can see even into the heart of man, and he could see 207 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:08.519 into the hearts of even those who were looked at as the most religious of 208 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:12.920 people. Indeed, they could fool other there people and they could fool even 209 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:19.549 themselves, but they could not full God. One of the reasons that Jesus 210 00:17:19.630 --> 00:17:26.150 uses a pharisee in this parable here is because these people were quintessentially guilty of 211 00:17:26.230 --> 00:17:33.579 this very sin. In another place in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus actually pronounced woes 212 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:41.980 against the scribes and the Pharisees. He said in Chapter Twenty three, says 213 00:17:41.980 --> 00:17:45.369 woe to use scribes and pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mints and dill 214 00:17:45.450 --> 00:17:48.410 and Human and I'm the GLADE. It neglected the weighty your matters of the 215 00:17:48.410 --> 00:17:53.849 law, Justice and Mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without 216 00:17:53.849 --> 00:17:59.680 neglecting the others. You Blind Guide, straining out in nat and swallowing a 217 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:04.240 camel. Woe to use scribes and pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the 218 00:18:04.279 --> 00:18:07.759 outside of the cup in the plate, but inside they're full of greed and 219 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:12.509 self indulgence. You Blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the Cup in 220 00:18:12.549 --> 00:18:18.069 the plate that the outside also may be clean. Woe to use, scribes 221 00:18:18.109 --> 00:18:23.109 and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you were outwardly like whitewashed tombs, which appear 222 00:18:23.150 --> 00:18:30.460 beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So 223 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:33.980 you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hip, 224 00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:41.690 hypocrisy and lawlessness. He see, basically the problem with this Pharisee is 225 00:18:41.769 --> 00:18:45.849 that he was wrong. He was exalting himself unjustly. He thought he was 226 00:18:45.890 --> 00:18:49.130 right. He was self deluded enough to think that he was righteous, and 227 00:18:49.250 --> 00:18:52.369 certainly other people would have thought, Oh yes, he ties, you know, 228 00:18:52.529 --> 00:18:56.119 everything he gets. He's fasting and praying twice a week. I mean, 229 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:59.319 if you knew someone like this, see you know, you'd probably think 230 00:18:59.319 --> 00:19:03.599 they were the most religious person around. And yet what man could not see? 231 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:11.269 God could see that beyond that that glittering cleanness of the outside was the 232 00:19:11.349 --> 00:19:15.549 most unclean thing imaginable, death and decay and decomposition, as you would find 233 00:19:15.589 --> 00:19:22.150 in a grave. Inwardly, they were wicked, and that is why it 234 00:19:22.230 --> 00:19:26.299 was such a dangerous and foolish thing for this man to hold up his righteousness 235 00:19:26.339 --> 00:19:29.660 before God and say, here I am, God, look at me, 236 00:19:29.819 --> 00:19:34.099 look how righteous I am, as if that could justify him. That was 237 00:19:34.180 --> 00:19:41.369 indeed a tragic and terrible thing for him to do, to be that deluded, 238 00:19:41.049 --> 00:19:49.490 and it is for that reason that he walked away not justified. Well, 239 00:19:49.569 --> 00:19:52.079 we might ask, then, well why? What about the tax collector? 240 00:19:53.480 --> 00:19:57.000 We know that the Pharisee is not that righteous. So okay, he 241 00:19:57.079 --> 00:20:03.960 couldn't fool God, but why is it that the tax collector is justified? 242 00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:07.109 Because he just admitted that he's not righteous either? He's a sinner, and 243 00:20:07.269 --> 00:20:11.910 just because somebody humbles himself, just because they admit that they are sinful, 244 00:20:11.910 --> 00:20:15.910 doesn't mean that they're going to get off the hook. There are people, 245 00:20:17.950 --> 00:20:21.700 even though there's an old saying there's nobody guilty in prison. Everybody thinks they're 246 00:20:21.700 --> 00:20:25.539 innocent, but there are people in prison who actually admit that they are guilty. 247 00:20:26.900 --> 00:20:30.059 They'll tell you I did it, I was wrong and I've changed, 248 00:20:30.900 --> 00:20:33.660 but they still have to serve their sentence. They're still sitting in prison paying 249 00:20:33.819 --> 00:20:38.890 their debt, even though they admit that they are wrong. And so we 250 00:20:38.970 --> 00:20:44.890 may ask, why is it that this tax collector is being not only, 251 00:20:45.890 --> 00:20:49.240 you know, shown some mercy, but he's actually being pronounced justified as he 252 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:53.599 goes home, just for throwing himself at the mercy of God and just for 253 00:20:53.680 --> 00:21:00.359 admitting that he is a sinner. And the answer to that we can find 254 00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:08.269 in one detail that Jesus mentions at the beginning of this parable. Notice what 255 00:21:08.349 --> 00:21:12.349 he says at the beginning, in verse ten, that two men went up 256 00:21:12.390 --> 00:21:21.539 into the temple to pray. This symbol here alone gives us a glimpse into 257 00:21:21.660 --> 00:21:29.940 why it is that this tax collector would go home justified. God gave many 258 00:21:30.019 --> 00:21:34.730 symbols to Israel, but the temple was the symbol par excellence of what happened 259 00:21:36.089 --> 00:21:41.809 when people were cleansed of sins. The priests ministered their daily. Animals were 260 00:21:41.849 --> 00:21:48.960 sacrifice daily, blood was shed daily as people would confess their sins and as 261 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:53.319 they would be pronounced clean and forgiveness, and as those sins were toned for 262 00:21:55.039 --> 00:22:00.720 symbolically at that temple, what God was trying to tell his people through all 263 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:03.950 the centuries, both when the Tabernacle was there and later the temple, was 264 00:22:03.029 --> 00:22:07.309 that he was a god who redeems, he was a God who forgives. 265 00:22:07.069 --> 00:22:10.789 He was saying to his people, yes, you are not good enough in 266 00:22:10.910 --> 00:22:15.339 yourself. Yes, you do fall short of my standards, but I am 267 00:22:15.380 --> 00:22:18.059 able to provide for you what you are not able to provide to me. 268 00:22:19.019 --> 00:22:23.099 I am able to give you a righteousness that is sufficient to meet my bar 269 00:22:23.259 --> 00:22:26.779 of justice. I am able to give you the peace of mind to know 270 00:22:27.220 --> 00:22:30.289 that what you have, because I've given it to you, is good enough 271 00:22:30.970 --> 00:22:37.170 to survive the Judgment Day. And that is the reason, because of the 272 00:22:37.250 --> 00:22:42.890 God that he was coming to, that this tax collector went home justified. 273 00:22:42.930 --> 00:22:45.920 He went to the right God, he went to a god of grace, 274 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:49.960 he went to a God who is powerful enough to save, and he flung 275 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:55.200 himself at the feet of this God and he received mercy from this God. 276 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:02.829 That is why he went home rather than the Pharisee justified, because the PHARISEE 277 00:23:03.430 --> 00:23:06.509 did not do any of that. He did not want God's mercy, he 278 00:23:06.589 --> 00:23:11.750 did not ask God's mercy. He thought that what he had done was not 279 00:23:11.869 --> 00:23:17.859 only good enough to to pass God's borrow justice, but was good enough that 280 00:23:17.900 --> 00:23:25.500 he could thank God for it and also look down on others. Not I 281 00:23:25.579 --> 00:23:27.809 don't know if there's been a time in your life when you thought things were 282 00:23:27.849 --> 00:23:32.490 going well, maybe financially or maybe in your marriage. You thought things were 283 00:23:32.529 --> 00:23:36.410 just humming along, but then all of a sudden, one day you uncover 284 00:23:36.569 --> 00:23:41.640 evidence, to your surprise, to your horror, that things are not as 285 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:45.039 good as they appeared. Then now that check that you wrote was going to 286 00:23:45.079 --> 00:23:48.000 balance because you didn't have those funds. Or now the marriage that you thought 287 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:52.599 was healthy was not so healthy and now you had to reassess things and you 288 00:23:52.680 --> 00:23:57.069 realize I was wrong and it's a horrifying thing. Well, how much more 289 00:23:57.190 --> 00:24:02.910 horrifying would it be to think that you are just before the Holy God, 290 00:24:03.589 --> 00:24:07.269 that your eternal life was secure because of all the righteous, charitable deeds and 291 00:24:07.390 --> 00:24:11.339 all the external things that you did throughout your life and you brought them to 292 00:24:11.460 --> 00:24:15.819 God like Cain bringing his fruit to God, only to have God say no. 293 00:24:17.779 --> 00:24:25.170 I reject that. That's not good enough. What horror that would be. 294 00:24:27.930 --> 00:24:30.769 But, beloved, we don't have to do that, we don't have 295 00:24:30.890 --> 00:24:34.890 to roll that dice, we don't have to risk that, because God has 296 00:24:34.930 --> 00:24:41.119 already given to us a righteousness that is more than sufficient that we can have 297 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:45.200 complete peace of mind that it will pass his scrutiny, that it will pass 298 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:49.200 muster, that even now we can know that we are justified before him, 299 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:52.950 just as this tax collector went home to his house justified at that moment, 300 00:24:55.789 --> 00:25:02.710 because what God gives is sufficient. and Jesus told this parable to the people 301 00:25:02.710 --> 00:25:06.470 that he was hearing, or that we're hearing him, so that they would 302 00:25:06.509 --> 00:25:11.059 not make the same tragic mistake as that Pharisee, because before their very presence 303 00:25:11.220 --> 00:25:15.980 was someone greater than the temple. Jesus Christ himself was the one that all 304 00:25:17.019 --> 00:25:21.730 those sacrifices pointed to and the priest pointed to and that even a temple pointed 305 00:25:21.809 --> 00:25:25.970 to, and he was there saying I'm at guys, I'm the one who's 306 00:25:25.970 --> 00:25:26.809 going to die for you. I'm the one who's going to cleanse you of 307 00:25:26.849 --> 00:25:34.720 your sins. And so he wanted to tell them in unmistakable terms to get 308 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:41.680 their eyes off of their own pretended righteousness and instead to trust in him, 309 00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:48.880 who could give them exactly what they needed for eternity and beloved, this is 310 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:55.029 still the case today. If you are here thinking that because you know you're 311 00:25:55.029 --> 00:26:00.109 a nice person, you're a charitable person, you give to the right charities 312 00:26:00.150 --> 00:26:03.069 and you feel good about yourself when you give to night charities and you come 313 00:26:03.109 --> 00:26:07.059 to church and you know everybody thinks well of you and you look good and 314 00:26:07.619 --> 00:26:11.099 all that, and you think, I'm okay, God, God thinks of 315 00:26:11.180 --> 00:26:15.980 me the same way as other people. Think again, because God's law goes 316 00:26:15.980 --> 00:26:19.609 all the way to the heart. It's not just about the externals and it 317 00:26:19.690 --> 00:26:23.970 certainly is not about the way the world looks at us. But God knows 318 00:26:25.009 --> 00:26:33.039 exactly what is going on inside. And realize that, even though he knows 319 00:26:33.160 --> 00:26:34.480 this and even though he is a holy God, more holy than we could 320 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:41.559 ever be in ourselves, it is provided a holiness to US freely. And 321 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:45.000 if we cling to that, if we beat our breast as this tax collector 322 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:52.069 and humble ourselves before the Lord that he will exalt us at the proper time. 323 00:26:55.549 --> 00:27:00.390 And so, beloved, let us come before God truly and not be 324 00:27:00.509 --> 00:27:07.140 deluded, as the world is, but come before a holy God humbly and 325 00:27:07.299 --> 00:27:11.900 waiting for him to be the one to lift us up, as he will 326 00:27:11.099 --> 00:27:14.220 when Christ returns. Let us pray