Luke 18:9-14

This morning, I invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 18 and beginning with verse 9. Luke chapter 18, I want to read verses 9 through 14, which is a very familiar passage of scripture. and he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves they were righteous and despised others two men went into the temple to pray the one Pharisee and the other a publican Pharisees stood and prayed thus with himself God I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican, I fast twice a week in a week. I give tithes of all I possess. And the publican, standing far off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to be a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified, rather than the other. For everyone that exalted himself shall be abased, he that humbleth himself, shall be abased. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. is sacred and holy word this morning. This parable is closely associated with the previous one, the unjust judge. There we saw the importance of perseverance in prayer. With the publican and the Pharisee, we see the importance of a right spirit in prayer. The first parable teaches you to pray and not faint. The second teaches the man are in which you should pray. It’s vital for you to come to church with the right state of heart, as this passage indicates. It’s even better to return from the house of prayer, with your heart right and really benefited in blessed. The publican and the Pharisee both went up to the temple for worship, but they returned two very different ways, as verse 10 and 14 indicated. The Pharisee feared very pious, was thought to be superior to others. The publican, as a hated, was thought to be superior to others. tax collector and was considered by most a greedy extortioner, a great sinner in the eyes of most people, and yet we see the difference between these two men and how they found acceptance before God. Now the heart and core of religion of religion is to find acceptance before God. The publican was accepted by God, while the Pharisee was not. In the visible church, there’s always a mixture of people. Some people are going home from the house of worship and an unacceptable condition before God, where others are not. Some worship, some worship, God in spirit and in truth. Others draw an eye to God with their lips, but ultimately their hearts are far from Him. So let me begin this morning by talking about the danger as self-righteousness, as we see in verses 9 and 10 here of our text. And he spake this parable unto certain, which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one the Pharisee, and the other. Let me put it this way. You are naturally, by birth, self-righteous. Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, as Proverts 20 in verse 6 indicates. there is a tendency among people to think more highly of themselves than they ought to think. They have a high opinion of who they are and what they’ve done. Many like the Pharisee do not see the need of a God-given righteousness. When you see yourself as a very good person overall, surely you think, well God will accept me, as Romans 103 indicates, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, they seek to establish their own righteousness. What do they know about the righteousness that comes from God through Jesus Christ? Nothing. And so they think that they can be righteous in God’s sight and be accepted by Him. Look at yourself. You see, you see, yourself as a good and kind and religious person. Maybe you pray and you regularly go to church and you were a moral person. See, that’s what we’re talking about. A lot of people in this life are like that. And so you are naturally self-righteous. Now, the cure for self-righteous is the knowledge of God’s word. You need to look at things from God’s perspective. Proverbs, Psalm, excuse me, 14, verses 2 and 3, says this. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside. They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. opens your eyes to see yourself as he does. There will be no more talk of your goodness. You know, God looks beyond outward actions. He evaluates the state of your heart. He sees what’s going on within you. Your thoughts, your motives. The thought of foolishness is sin. And so we have to be aware of how foolish we are in God’s sight. And he is certainly aware of our own foolishness. And you must be able to confess with Job, behold, I am vowed. That is the conclusion you too must make. There is nothing good within you. Until you reach that point, you’re still self-righteous. Let to learn this vital truth. It’s not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he have saved us. That is from Titus 3.5. Now, if you look at the case of Cain and Abel in Genesis chapter 4, both came before God with an offering. The Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering, but under Cain in his offering he had not respect. Kane had brought of the fruit of the ground, which was the works of his own hands. And so God did not accept, and that’s not what God required. Abel brought one of the firstlings of the flock as a sacrifice. And God accepted him because that’s what he demanded. There’s either relation to him. on God’s grace and mercy to forgive you, or reliance on your own good works to find acceptance with God. Can you trust it in his works for acceptance? Abel trusted in God’s mercy, and the substitute dying in his place. Among the worshippers in the visible church, some will be accepted and some will be rejected, just like King and Abel. The question is this. What are you relying upon to be accepted in the eyes? Are you relying on your own supposedly good works, your good behavior, or are you relying on a substitute dying in your place, and God granting your mercy and grace on the basis of that? So we have the danger here of self-righteousness that that sticks out. Now, secondly, do you engage in self-righteous prayers? Let’s look at verses 11 and 12. Pharisees stood and prayed thus with himself, God. I thank thee that I’m not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this public. I fast twice. in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. Let me ask you this. Do you always compare yourself to others? The Pharisee looked around him at the temple area. He saw other people, and he measured himself accordingly. He was not an extortioner. He was not unjust or not. or an adulterer compared to others, he was a devout man who kept the law of God. He was certainly righteous, compared with the greedy, crooked, evil-doing publican nearby. So he thought, God has to be pleased with me. You know, I’m many rungs on the ladder above this guy next to me over here, and the other people around me. So this is how he evaluated his spiritual condition, his standing before God. Surely God ought to be thankful that such a person as I exist. Are you spiritually superior? Because you judge yourself by a similar standard? You might think, well, I don’t get caught cheating on my wife like him. I’m no adultererer. I don’t violate the Lord’s day like him. I keep the Sabbath. You know, I don’t steal from the company like that guy does. I’m no thief. I don’t curse and swear like him. I don’t take the Lord’s name in vain. I don’t misrepresent my taxable income like him. I don’t bear false witness. I don’t drink, but I drink modestly. Do you look around you at church and say, boy, I’m more devout than that individual. He doesn’t read or know his Bible like me. He doesn’t pray as long as, or as well as me. I sing the Psalms with much more enthusiasm than he does. I attend the services. more regularly than he does and so forth and so on. Now the problem with all this is evaluating, comparing ourselves to others, is that we’re not comparing ourselves to God’s standard, which is God’s law. Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor is thyself. Are you anywhere near that? Isn’t that a good question to ask? Isn’t this what God demands of us? Are you even close to that? Even if you are better than others, if you evaluate yourself by the God’s law, you are far below where you ought to be. Mays yourself by the law of God, and your estimate of yourself will drastically change. You know, when I was a young boy playing baseball in the neighborhood, I kept my statistics. My dad showed me how to figure out my batting average and so forth. And so, you know, I’m figuring out my batting average. I’m batting in the 900s, in case you’re wondering, if you’re a really good Major League player, you’re in the 300s. I was in the 900s. In one year, I actually broke Babe Ruth’s home run record because I had 78 home runs, and he only had 60. So I told my dad, boy, that Pittsburgh Pirates ought to be interested in me, because I can play baseball. But there’s a great deal of difference between training Major League Baseball and Neighborhood Baseball. And I was measuring myself by the wrong standard. Don’t do that spiritually. You can never be justified before God on the basis of your superiority to others. Mark that down. That’s a key point. So do you always compare yourself to others? That’s a good question. Note a second here. Do you count one duty of more valued in another? I fast twice in life. the week, I give ties of all, verse 12. Now when we look at the Pharisee here, he was a man who fasted. We look at his self-sacrifice in this. Now, according to Scripture, there’s one biblical command for you to fast, and that was on the day of atonement. That was required once a year. but you could voluntarily fast any time you felt it necessary. However, the Pharisees here didn’t have to feel it necessary. They just went ahead and did it twice a week no matter what, usually Tuesdays and Thursdays in order to appear righteous. As Jesus said, they disfigure their faces if they may appear under men to fast. You see, it was all about a patient. It was all about elevation in the eyes of those around them. It was all about, look at me. Look how righteous I am. Among the Pharisees of our Lord’s Day, we find this regular fasting twice a week. Now this Pharisee, Heavenly Lently thought it was quite important to do that. he never missed. He counted two of the seven days as regular fast days each week, and so he continued to fast. And this made him feel religiously superior to others. Now, when it came to tithing, there were certain tithes that were demanded by the law of God. But this Pharisee means to imply he did more. than what was required by the law. He tithed of all, like the rest of the Pharisees. No doubt he tithed of his mint and his niece and his coming, according to Matthew 23. These were tiny seeds and herbs. This indicated nothing was overlooked when counting a tenth for God. All that I possesses, I went and bread. counted all those seeds out. M meticulously counted the seeds to be very precise so that he could tie his tenth. And we see him doing this all the time. Now, yet all this fasting added together did not amount much in comparison to the weightier matters of the law like judgment for justice, mercy, and faith when he neglected to do these, as Matthew 23, 23 talks about. So he was very careful to pay his tithe of the small seeds, while the important issues that are mentioned in Matthew 23, 23, were left undone. Tithing is a good thing. but he set it up as an example to show everybody how remarkably spiritual he was as a person. He was full of pride. He had contempt for his neighbor, the Republican, which he dared to express in what he called his prayers. He counted his tithy and fastened. to be of more value in those hidden sins of his life. And so we see here the Pharisee in his case before God. Not a very good picture. Now let me ask you, you count one duty above another. Look at church attendance. Do you count your regular church attendance above what you do daily in your life? Do you feel you make up for all your sinful activity by this means? Do you think church attendance makes up for the lies that you tell, or the curses that fly from your lips, or your poor treatment of your spouse, your dishonest gain at work? Is church attendants wipe all that clear? You caught one duty about. another? So when you look at church attendance, we see this. Religious ceremonies or activities are also something people count important. You might say, oh, but I’ve been baptized. And I take the Lord’s supper. It’s important as a believer that you do if you have faith in Christ and believe on Him. To the saving of your soul. soul. But if you count a religious ceremony to be of more value than anything else you do, then you are admitting the weight of your matters of the law. What is the more value? The ceremony or a godly life? Think about that. What is a more value? If you have a godly life, that shows the ceremony was true and valid, doesn’t it? baptism represents your death to sin and resurrection, a newness of life, to a new life in Christ. What good is it to be baptized if you deny by your life that you have died to sin? Look at Simon Magis in Acts 8, where he wanted to pay for the gift of the Holy Spirit and Peter F. say you don’t have any part or lot in this matter salvation. You may have so called believed and been baptized, but you’re far from the kingdom. Of what value is for taking the Lord’s supper? When your daily life denies, you are walking in fellowship with Jesus Christ. You’re saying you’re in fellowship with Christ when you come to the table, but you’re denying it if you’re not walking properly. before him. Do you engage in self-righteous prayers? Thirdly, does your prayer appeal to God’s grace? Let’s look at verses 13 and 14. In the public, standing afar off, not lift so much up as his eyes unto heaven, smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to merciful to me, the sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalts himself shall be abased. He that humble of himself shall be exalted. The publican’s prayer is commended by Jesus Christ. His prayer is the very opposite of the Pharisees. The publican went to his house, justified. Prayer that you have here is worthy of study. It’s worthy of contemplation. This is a prayer of someone in need. The Pharisee sought God’s acceptance of justification because he had not done certain things and had done other things. His prayer expressed a sense of God being indebted to him. He deserve to have God’s blessing. Self-righteousness is something that’s drastic. Self-righteous has need of nothing from God. So it’s a defective prayer. The publican came as a sinner in need of God’s help. He came to petition the Lord. In this, we see how you ought to come. before the Lord as a needy sinner. Now, notice also, prayer is a prayer in which he does not compare himself does. The publican isn’t looking around. He’s not looking at others and saying, hey, I’m better in this guy, I’m better than this guy. He knew he wasn’t. His neighbors and his fellow worshippers were much better than he. So he didn’t seek justification on that basis. He knows he personally is violated God’s law and he has need of forgiveness. Do you see salvation is a personal thing between you and God? Your neighbor is not directly involved in that. It’s you and God. It’s a prayer. It’s a prayer in which he does not compare himself to others. It’s a humble prayer. He plainly confesses he’s a sinner. There’s no question about where he stands before God. He knows where he stands. He knows all too well. He is a transgressor of the law of God. He stands guilty before the Lord God. He says with David in Psalm 32-5, I acknowledge my sin under the my iniquity have I not hid the public in here comes with a sense of guilt and shame before the Lord God. He would not so much as lift his eyes up to heaven he was so ashamed. He’s grieved in heart, distressed in mind, downcast in spirit. His eyes are fixed on the ground. Innumerable evils have come past me about. My iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up. Psalm 40 in verse 12. That’s how he felt. He smote upon his breast. That’s a natural way of expressing grief. He’s judging himself worthy of the heaviest punishment God can meet out. It was a humble prayer. It was a prayer seeing divine mercy. God be merciful to me, a sinner. Boy, that was a simple prayer, wasn’t. Straight and to the point. The word translated mercy here implies an application for mercy. on the basis of an atonement, literally, be propitious to me, a sinner. It conveys the idea of sacrifice pictures the atoning death of Christ who is the propitiation for our sins. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. So it’s not by trusting in himself, but trusting in a toning sacrifice, that the public in here found justification before God. He was declared righteous on the basis of Christ’s blood, sacrifice. That’s what we find. So you must confess your sin, cry out for God’s mercy and forgiveness on the basis of faith in a Savior. And that’s what he does. Does your appeal to God in prayer depend upon God’s grace? This is a prayer of somebody in need. There’s a prayer of somebody who doesn’t compare himself. fathers. It was a humble prayer and it was a prayer seeking divine mercy. Let me close by saying this. Let’s leave this passage with a deep sense of the great encouragement it provides for those of us who feel the guilt and shame and sin that we have before God. There is mercy in Christ. There is confess your sin. Trust in his propitiation for sinners. It is the way of justification before God. Look for traces of this Pharisee. Look at your own life, your own prayer law. Avoid being like this Pharisee. God’s law is your measuring stick. Not comparing yourself to others. My own. Lastly, be careful in judging others, but you don’t come away from church in a state where you’re not blessed. Let us always come humbly before the Lord, for that is the way of blessing according to the Word of God. Let’s close with the word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we do give you thank. for this opportunity we’ve had to think about the publican and the Pharisee. As we compare them, Father, may we see our need to be a lot more like the publican and less like the Pharisee. Bless your people, Father. We are sinful and needy people. May we be a humble people. May we seek your blessing on the basis of what Christ has done for us. We ask, Lord, for you to help us this day and remember us and our needs before you. We ask this in Jesus name and with Thanksgiving. Let’s stand for the benediction. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which have loved us and have given us everlasting consolation and good hope for grace. Comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Amen.