Jesus on Justification

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:05.679 Being sacrifice where a lamb would be slain on the altar to propitiate or or 2 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:11.230 a tone for the sins of the people. And this man is looking from 3 00:00:11.230 --> 00:00:18.109 a distance at this sacrifice and he's calling for God to provide the only means 4 00:00:18.269 --> 00:00:24.339 for him to be considered righteous, a sacrifice that's totally outside of himself, 5 00:00:26.260 --> 00:00:34.859 something from God that would atone for his sins. And with this, this 6 00:00:35.340 --> 00:00:42.810 contrast between the PHARISEE and the Publican gets a lot more interesting. You see 7 00:00:42.850 --> 00:00:48.009 a Pharisee who turns to his own law, keeping, his own good works, 8 00:00:48.170 --> 00:00:58.520 his own spotless reputation, to find right standing before God, whereas this 9 00:00:58.679 --> 00:01:06.989 publican points to a sacrifice on his behalf that might give him right standing before 10 00:01:07.030 --> 00:01:12.590 God. He looks to a righteousness that is completely outside of himself, as 11 00:01:12.629 --> 00:01:19.739 Luther called an alien righteousness. And it is this propitiation, I would argue, 12 00:01:19.859 --> 00:01:25.620 that is the main character of the parable and, as we know, 13 00:01:26.219 --> 00:01:32.060 as we continue reading the Gospels, the propitiation is the narrator himself, Jesus, 14 00:01:34.810 --> 00:01:42.370 as we know that these temple sacrifices are ultimately pointing forward to the once 15 00:01:42.489 --> 00:01:53.560 for all propitiation for our sins the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for US forgiveness to 16 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:59.120 all who would trust in him and faith, all who would turn from their 17 00:01:59.319 --> 00:02:04.909 obvious and blatant sins, but also from the insidious sin of resting in our 18 00:02:04.909 --> 00:02:10.590 own good deeds, to repent of Sin and self righteousness and turn in faith 19 00:02:10.669 --> 00:02:15.740 to Jesus, the sacrificial lamb come to take away the sins of the world. 20 00:02:19.340 --> 00:02:23.620 It would seem here that the idea of justification by faith is not an 21 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:28.099 invention of Paul and Romans, is it? That's taught right here in the 22 00:02:28.180 --> 00:02:38.409 gospels, Jesus teaching it to us that saving righteousness, justification must come from 23 00:02:38.449 --> 00:02:46.919 outside of us. It must be given to us, something that the sinner 24 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:53.520 in this story understands but the righteous man doesn't. Well, we are good 25 00:02:53.599 --> 00:03:00.669 Protestants here right. We understand this idea of justification by faith. We agree 26 00:03:00.789 --> 00:03:04.430 with Luther, who said that it was the article on which the Church stands. 27 00:03:04.469 --> 00:03:08.870 or false. We say Amen to Calvin, who says that it's the 28 00:03:08.949 --> 00:03:15.219 principal article of the Christian religion. This is important, really important. The 29 00:03:15.379 --> 00:03:22.379 doctrine that says we are made righteous not by our own works but by Christ's 30 00:03:22.419 --> 00:03:30.210 work on our behalf, granted to us by faith alone. We say yes 31 00:03:30.289 --> 00:03:35.370 and amen to this. But let me ask you this this morning, some 32 00:03:35.889 --> 00:03:43.479 little fought experiment. Let's say this Publican came back to the temple the next 33 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:49.599 week, seven days later, and had not changed anything about his behavior. 34 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:59.349 He continues to defraud the same people, he continues in the same wretched profession 35 00:04:00.789 --> 00:04:06.349 and he comes back with the same repentance, beating the same sinful chest, 36 00:04:08.069 --> 00:04:13.740 asking for God to make up for the sins that he seems unwilling or unable 37 00:04:13.900 --> 00:04:19.779 to mortify. All the while we are doing our darndest to live a holy 38 00:04:19.860 --> 00:04:30.170 life, and let's say Jesus continues to send this man away justified. Well, 39 00:04:30.209 --> 00:04:36.250 that's troubling, isn't it? That doesn't feel right. Now, before 40 00:04:36.569 --> 00:04:43.360 you start sending emails to pastor about this, I'm not suggesting that that's how 41 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:47.199 we act. I'm not suggesting that we should neglect the pursuit of a holy 42 00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:54.589 life. I'm not suggesting that good works aren't really evidence of saving faith. 43 00:04:54.709 --> 00:05:00.629 These things are true, but the truth of the matter is we, like 44 00:05:00.910 --> 00:05:08.699 the Pharisee, even maybe not as blatantly, like to come to God each 45 00:05:08.860 --> 00:05:15.699 week with an improved report card, and we so often do this by comparing 46 00:05:15.899 --> 00:05:24.970 our card to those around us, those who can't seem to get it together. 47 00:05:26.769 --> 00:05:28.930 You know the ones, the ones who aren't as good at parenting, 48 00:05:30.170 --> 00:05:35.040 the ones who are impatient and their relationships, the ones who make impulsive decisions. 49 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:44.600 We like to justify ourselves by pointing at them and saying what, I'm 50 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:50.790 glad I am not like that. And we do it constantly, and I 51 00:05:50.910 --> 00:05:58.110 would argue that in doing that we show our own need to justify ourselves by 52 00:05:58.149 --> 00:06:02.430 our own actions. Perhaps we don't pray it out loud, but we think 53 00:06:02.629 --> 00:06:10.060 to ourselves, thank you God, that I am not like them, and 54 00:06:10.180 --> 00:06:14.860 in doing so we prove to ourselves and others that we trust, at least 55 00:06:14.899 --> 00:06:20.569 to some degree, are and our own semblance of righteousness. But if we're 56 00:06:20.649 --> 00:06:28.930 honest with ourselves, we too return week after week with the same old sin, 57 00:06:30.449 --> 00:06:36.920 the same old selfishness that plagues our decisions, the same old impatience that 58 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:44.879 casts a shadow over our relationships, the same lustful thoughts and actions that we 59 00:06:45.079 --> 00:06:51.910 try so hard to cover up. But we try hard, don't we? 60 00:06:55.829 --> 00:07:00.069 And by trusting in any level of our own righteousness, by comparing ourselves to 61 00:07:00.310 --> 00:07:06.579 others. We run into the warning at the end of the passage that he 62 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:15.019 who exalts himself, who sees himself as righteous, will be humbled, but 63 00:07:15.139 --> 00:07:23.129 he who humbles himself will be exalted. As we conclude our want, I 64 00:07:23.209 --> 00:07:26.689 want to consider something for a moment. Like like I said, this passage 65 00:07:26.689 --> 00:07:32.240 isn't firstly about pride and humility, but as we see, it's certainly connected, 66 00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:39.560 isn't it? It's firstly about righteousness and how one is justified before a 67 00:07:39.720 --> 00:07:45.990 holy God. But in teaching us about righteousness, Jesus gives us everything we 68 00:07:46.189 --> 00:07:51.750 need to be humble, and he does it by telling us what it looks 69 00:07:51.790 --> 00:07:57.829 like to be a Christian, one who is saved and justified by faith. 70 00:07:57.910 --> 00:08:05.819 Jesus shows us here that a model Christian is not necessarily one who appears righteous, 71 00:08:07.100 --> 00:08:13.050 but one who is so needy that he or she continually falls on the 72 00:08:13.089 --> 00:08:20.490 righteousness of Christ on their behalf. We often have in our heads the idea 73 00:08:20.569 --> 00:08:24.290 of what a perfect church goer looks like. It probably looks a lot like 74 00:08:24.410 --> 00:08:30.879 the PHARISEE, but Jesus turns it on its head and says, you know 75 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:35.480 what a model citizen of my kingdom looks like. It looks like one who 76 00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:41.509 is well aware that they have nothing to contribute to their salvation except for the 77 00:08:41.669 --> 00:08:50.909 sin that makes it necessary, one who shows up with need over contribution. 78 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:58.100 And that is who we are, isn't it? Those who come with need, 79 00:08:58.340 --> 00:09:05.139 need for a righteousness outside of ourselves. And this morning Christ comes to 80 00:09:05.379 --> 00:09:11.009 us who are humbled this day, to people who have nothing to hand over 81 00:09:11.049 --> 00:09:20.730 him except for our unrighteousness, and he offers righteousness his own. He offers 82 00:09:20.769 --> 00:09:24.879 a propitiation, a covering of our sins. He offers to turn away the 83 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:33.600 wrath of the father and grant us his own righteousness, as first John tells 84 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:37.159 us, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the 85 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:41.470 truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is 86 00:09:41.590 --> 00:09:46.350 what faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all 87 00:09:46.389 --> 00:09:52.629 unrighteousness. And and how does this work? Because Jesus, Christ the righteous, 88 00:09:52.669 --> 00:09:56.940 is the propitiation for our sins, as John will say, not only 89 00:09:58.019 --> 00:10:05.740 for ours but the sins of the whole world. Jesus is the ATT owning, 90 00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:13.409 sacrifice and the Alien Righteousness that we need that righteousness that comes to us 91 00:10:13.090 --> 00:10:20.250 from the outside, that sacrifice that is sufficient to cover those besetting sins that 92 00:10:20.330 --> 00:10:28.200 we try to hide, and also sufficient to atone for every attempt at selfrighteousness 93 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:33.759 that stands between us and the grace of God freely given to us and his 94 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:41.389 son, Jesus Christ, he who knew no sin, became sin for us 95 00:10:41.870 --> 00:10:46.950 that we might become the righteousness of God, that we might be declared righteous, 96 00:10:46.029 --> 00:10:54.580 declared justified. Oh what glorious news that is for sinners like you and 97 00:10:54.700 --> 00:11:01.419 me, desperate for something completely outside of ourselves. So this morning, in 98 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:07.490 light of this, let us set aside any attempt of selfrighteousness that would cause 99 00:11:07.690 --> 00:11:13.009 us to show contempt to others who send differently than we do. Let us 100 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:20.399 draw near together, sinners in need of grace, and let us, with 101 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:28.440 common need, hold to this Common Confession Christ and him crucified for you and 102 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:30.679 for me. Let's pray together.