Hi, everybody. Would you turn to Genesis chapter
18? I was thinking a couple of things
when Matthew was singing that song, I thought of where the
Lord tells us with regard to his father, thou has loved them
as thou has loved me. Now, we wouldn't believe that
were it not in the word of God, but it's in the word of God.
And so near, so near to God, near I cannot be in the person
of his dear son. I'm as near to God as he. And I was thinking about what
Mark said about the fear of the Lord, the beginning of wisdom. Help me to have some understanding
of what the fear of the Lord is. You fear the Lord when you're
afraid to look anywhere but Christ. That is the fear of the Lord. You have such a reverence for
his person, an awe of his person, that you're afraid to look anywhere
but the Lord Jesus Christ. There's everything in your salvation.
Genesis 18, verse 13, and the Lord said unto Abraham,
wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I of a surety bear a child
which am old? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Verse 23, and Abraham drew near
and said, will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be 50 righteous
within the city. Will thou also destroy and not
spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein? That be far
from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the
wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked. that
be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right. Now I've entitled this message,
The Righteous and the Wicked. Now in that passage of scripture,
we read of two attributes of God that everybody intuitively
knows. Is anything too hard for the
Lord Everybody knows that God is you know this and He's all-powerful
We know that from creation. All we got to do is look at creation
and we know someone all-powerful Created this universe and no
one created him. He's eternal Everybody knows
that. You know, there's really no such
thing as an atheist. I know people will claim to be
atheists, but it's people who do not want there to be a God.
Therefore, they say, I don't believe in God. But everybody
by nature knows that God is. He created the universe as an
act of his power and nobody created him. He is eternal. Everyone knows that God's power
is anything too hard for the Lord. Now, the second thing I
read from this passage of scripture is when Abraham said, shall not
the judge of all the earth do right? This is something everyone
knows intuitively. God is righteous. Whatever he does is right. He
doesn't do something because it's right. It's right because
he does it. God is righteous and God will
reward the righteous and punish the wicked. Everybody knows that
intuitively. God is righteous. God will reward
the righteous and God will punish the wicked. All of humanity, that's me and
you and everybody else, all of humanity fall into one of these
two groups, the righteous and the wicked. Look what Abraham
says in verse 23, or let's begin reading in verse 20. And the
Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great,
and because their sin is very grievous, I'll go down now and
see whether they've done all together according to the cry
of it, which is coming to me. And if not, I'll know. And the
men turned their faces from thence and went toward Sodom, but Abraham
stood yet before the Lord. Now there was somebody very dear
to Abraham in Sodom. His name was Lot. He had treated
him as a son. Lot left Er of the Chaldees with
Abraham. Abraham, when they left, didn't
have a son. And I suppose he looked at Lot as his son. He
was his nephew, but he was very fond of Lot. And he knew Lot. was in Sodom and if the Lord
was going to destroy Sodom, he was thinking about Lot, his nephew. So look what he says, and Abraham
drew near and said, will thou also destroy the righteous with
the wicked? Peradventure there be 50 righteous
within the city. Will thou also destroy and not
spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein? That be far
from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the
wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that
be far from thee, shall not the judge of the earth do right. Now here we read of these two
groups that all of humanity falls under. I fall under one of these,
you fall under one of these. The righteous and the wicked. There is no other group righteous
before God or wicked before God. And this is how God sees. He, the living God, the creator,
the judge of all the earth, sees. And how He sees is how it really
is. You see, he doesn't have the
limited way of seeing that you and I do. I love what Samuel
said, the Lord seeth not as man seeth. Man looketh on the outward
appearance. He only sees on the outside.
The Lord looketh on the heart. If he sees you as righteous,
now listen to this. If he sees you as righteous,
It's because you are, in fact, righteous. And if he sees you as wicked,
it's because you are, in fact, wicked before him. The righteous
and the wicked. Righteous means you stand before
the holy law of God having never broken it. If you're righteous before God,
that means you've never sinned. You are sinless. If you are wicked, that means
you've never done righteousness. All you've done is sin. That's
it. You've not kept one commandment
one time. If you're righteous, you have
kept every commandment all the time. And if you're wicked, you've
not kept one commandment one time. The righteous and the wicked. Now there was a French mathematician
by the name of Blaise Pascal or Pascal, I'm not really sure
how you pronounce his name. But he made what I think is the
best statement I've ever heard a man make that's uninspired. And by uninspired, I mean it's
not in the Bible. Everything in the Bible is inspired. But
this is the statement this man made that resonated with me.
I knew it was true as soon as I heard it. All the wicked. without exception,
believe themselves to be righteous, or at least have the potential
to be righteous if they're given the opportunity. And all of the
righteous, without exception, believe themselves to be wicked. I know that's so. the righteous
and the wicked. All the wicked believe themselves
to be righteous and all the righteous, without exception, believe themselves
to be wicked by those terms I just gave. Now, Romans chapter three,
verse 10 says, there is none righteous. No, not one. There's none that understands.
There's none that seeketh after God. They've all gone out of
the way. They've together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. If that's the case, and it is,
how can God, who can't be fooled, who sees things as they really
are, unlike you and I, How can he see someone like me as righteous? I'm interested in that. How can
the living God actually look upon this man who I know I'm
unrighteous in and of myself? I know that. No question at all
about that. How can God look at me and say,
he is righteous? Not, I'm going to treat him as
if he were righteous. That won't do me any good. He is righteous. He is one who
has kept my law perfectly. Genesis 17 verse 15. I want to
look at this story. And God said unto Abraham, as
for Sarah thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarah, but
Sarah. You'll notice the H is put in
there. The breath of life is what the
H stands for. She now is a giver of life. She can now bear a child. He
changes her name. Verse 16, and I will bless her
and give thee a son also of her. Yea, I will bless her and she
shall be a mother of nations. Kings of people shall be of her.'
Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed and said in his heart,
Shall a child be born unto him that's a hundred years old? And
shall Sarah that's nine years old bear? And Abraham said unto
God, O that Ishmael might live before thee. And God said, Sarah
thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed. And thou shall call his
name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant
with him for an everlasting covenant with his seed after him. You
see, the Messiah is going to come through Isaac, not through
Ishmael. As a matter of fact, God did not acknowledge Ishmael
as a son when he said, take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac,
and offer him up as a burnt offering unto me. Ishmael's not acknowledged
as a son to the Lord. But verse 20, as for Ishmael,
I've heard thee. Behold, I blessed him and will
make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. Twelve princes
shall he beget and I'll make him a great nation. But my covenant
will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee
at this set time in the next year. And he left off talking
with him and God went up from Abraham. Verse one, chapter 18. And the Lord appeared unto him
in the plains of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat
of the day." Now, I love the imagery of this. He's hot. You
know how hot it's been. He's sitting in the tent door
in the heat of the day, and he sees the Lord coming to him. And the only way anybody's going
to see the Lord is if the Lord appears to him. Notice it doesn't
say he saw the Lord, but the Lord appeared. to Him. And the only way you and I are
going to see the Lord is if He makes Himself known and appears
to us. And the Lord appeared to him
in the plains of Mamre, as he set the tent in the heat of the
day. And he lift up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men
stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran
to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the
ground. You see, he knew who they were. This was the Lord
Jesus Christ, the pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, and he
had two angels with him. He knew who they were. Somebody
says, how'd he know? Well, how did Nebuchadnezzar
know that the Son of God was the Son of God in the fiery furnace? Well, if you see him, you'll
know. You'll know. He knew who this was. Verse three,
and he said, my Lord, if now I have found favor, in thy sight. Pass not away, I pray thee, from
thy servant. Now, if you and I know who he
is, our foremost desire will to be to find favor, grace in
his sight. Like Noah, Scripture says, Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That's the same word, favor.
Noah realized that just a few verses before that, God saw the
wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Noah
was in that bunch. Men, you're in that bunch. But
Noah found grace, favor in the eyes of the Lord. And if you
know anything about who you are and who he is, your only desire
is to find grace and favor in his sight, the grace of God. Moses said, if I've found grace
in thy sight, show me thy way that I might know thee. Anyone
who ever finds out who he is, what they want is grace in his
side. Now, the grace of God. Can only
be described. By the attributes of God. God's eternal. His grace is eternal. God is all powerful. His grace
is all powerful. God is independent. He doesn't
need you to do something before he can act on your behalf. He's
independent. His grace is independent. God's
grace is immutable grace. God's grace is sovereign grace. God's grace is just grace. God's grace is holy grace. God's
grace is righteous grace. Whatever attribute God has been
pleased to reveal, You put that as the adjective to describe
his grace. That's the grace of God. If it
doesn't line up with his attributes, it's not his grace. It's something
else. It's not his grace. And he said,
oh, that I might find favor, that I might find grace in your
sight. And if you know his grace, you
do not want him to pass away. You want his presence. Look at
verse three. And he said, my Lord, if now
I found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from my
servant. Let a little water I pray you be fetched and wash your
feet and rest yourselves under the tree and I'll fetch a morsel
of bread and comfort you your hearts. After that you shall
pass on for therefore you come to your servant." And they said,
so do as thou has said. And Abraham hastened into the
tent and Sarah and said, make ready quickly three measures
of fine meal. Knead it, make cakes upon the hearth. Can you
imagine how excited he was and how he wanted this done right?
He knew who he was feeding. And Abraham ran into the herd
and fetched a calf tender and good, gave it unto a young man,
and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter and milk and
calf, which he had dressed, and he set it before them, and he
stood by them under the tree, and they did eat." I love to
think of him at this time. He's just watching them. What a blessing to entertain
such glorious guests. Verse 9, And they said in him,
where's Sarah, thy wife? And he said, behold, in the tent.
And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to
the time of life. And Lois, Sarah, thy wife, shall
have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent
door, which was behind him. And Abraham and Sarah were old
and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after
the manner of women. She was no longer able to bear
children. Therefore, Sarah laughed within
herself. I don't think this was out loud.
It was within herself. She was laughing at what the
Lord said. After I'm waxed old, shall I
have pleasure, my Lord, being old also? And the Lord said unto
Abraham, Wherefore didst thou laugh, saying, Shall I have a
surety, bear a child, as I am old? Is anything too hard for
the Lord, He that can create the universe from nothing? Can he not enable a woman who's
gone through menopause to bear a child? Yes, he can. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? At the time appointed, I will
return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall
have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I
laugh not, for she was afraid. He said, Nay, but that is life.
But we're quick to lie to get ourselves out of trouble. We
do the same thing she did. I didn't laugh at you, you did.
I heard. He can hear what's going on on
the inside. He knows what's going on in our hearts right now. And
the men rose up from the vents and looked toward Sodom. And
Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. And the Lord
said, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do, seeing
that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and
all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him, for
I know him. that he will command his children and his household
after them, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice
and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which
he has spoken of him." Now, was the Lord commending Abraham's
excellent parental skills? I know he'll make sure his children
obey. With regard to parental responsibilities,
it's the parent's responsibility to be the moral authority to
that child and make them do what's right. That's the primary responsibility
of a parent. That being said, that's not what
this is talking about. This is talking about Abraham's
spiritual seed. Every one of them will believe. They will keep the way of the
Lord. Now, remember what the Lord said?
I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I am the way of justice and judgment
that they shall keep. He is the way that God can be
just and justify the ungodly. He's the way of judgment and
justice. He's the truth. how that takes
place. His life is the life that causes
this to take place. His perfect life, my obedience
before God, the keeping of judgment and justice. Indeed, his descendants,
the true children of Abraham, believers, if you're faith, then
are you children of Abraham. Look what he says in verse 19,
I know him, that he will command his children and his household
after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice
and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which
he hath spoken of him." Verse 20. Now the Lord is going
to speak of what he's going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah, the
place Lot lived. And the Lord said, because the
cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin
is very grievous, I'll go down now and see whether they've done
all together according to the cry of it, which is coming to
me. If not, I'll know. Now, in chapter 13 of Genesis,
it says the men of Sodom were exceedingly evil before the Lord. have any doubt that you know
what that's a reference to. Their sin, as is pointed out
in Genesis chapter 19, when they said with regard to the angels,
bring them out to us that we may know them. It was sexual
perversion, and yes, that's right, but it's more than that. Would
you turn with me to Exodus, I mean, Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel 16, verse 48. As I live, saith the Lord God,
Sodom thy sister is not done, she nor her daughters, as thou
hast done down thy daughters. He's saying to Israel, you're
all worse than Sodom. Didn't the Lord say it'll be
more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day
of judgment than for you? Now he says this to Israel, verse 49, behold, this was the
iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread. I'm satisfied. No hungering and thirsting after
righteousness, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness, quietness. Everything's okay. Everything's
okay. I'm rich, increased with goods
and have need of nothing. And the Lord said, you don't
know that you're poor and naked and wretched, miserable and blind.
This was Sodom's sin. She didn't strengthen the hand
of the poor and needy. They were haughty and committed
abomination before me. Therefore, I took them away as
I saw good. So the Lord was going to destroy
Sodom, and we see Sodom's sin, and we see ourselves in Sodom's
sin, in these accusations against the children of Israel. Back
to Genesis 18, and the men, these two angels,
verse 22, and the men turned their faces from thence and went
toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. Now, Abraham loved Lot. Do you
remember how he went in to rescue him in Genesis chapter 13, where
he got carried away with those kings? And he has an army of
trained men, 318 of his servants, and goes and rescues him, brings
him back. He loves Lot. He knows Lot is
in Sodom. He's not justifying Lot's position
there, but he does not want to see Lot destroyed. So look at
the way Abraham speaks to the Lord. Verse 23. And Abraham drew
near and said, Will thou destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city. Will thou also
destroy and not spare the place for fifty righteous that are
therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay
the righteous with the wicked, that the righteous should be
as the wicked. That be far from thee shall not the judge of all
the earth do right. And the Lord said, if I find
in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I'll spare all
the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said,
behold, now I've taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which
in but dust and ashes. Peradventure, there should be
like five of the 50 righteous. Would I destroy the city for
the lack of five? He said, if I find there are
45, I'll not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet again,
and said, Peradventure, there shall be 40 found there. And
he said, I will not do it for 40's sake. And he said unto him,
O, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Peradventure,
there shall be 30 found there. And he said, I will not do it
if I find 30 there. And he said, behold, now I have
taken upon me to speak unto the Lord. Peradventure, there shall
be 20 found there. And he said, I will not destroy
it for 20's sake. And he said, O, let not the Lord
be angry, and I will speak yet. But this once, Peradventure,
10 shall be found in there. And he said, I will not destroy
it for 10's sake. I've tried to read about how
big the place was and I've read estimates anywhere from 5,000
to 500,000. So nobody knows how big Sodom and Gomorrah was, but
there's a lot of people there. And the Lord says, I will spare
it if there are 10 righteous men there. And the Lord went his way as
soon as he left communion with Abraham and Abraham returned
unto his place. Now go back to Verse 23, and
Abraham drew near and said, will thou also destroy the righteous
with the wicked? Peradventure, there'd be 50 righteous
in the city. Would thou destroy and not spare
the place for the 50 righteous that are therein? That be far
from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the
wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that
be far from thee, shall not the judge of the earth do? Right. I know this about you. You will
do right. I have this utter confidence
that you will do right. You're not going to treat the
righteous as the wicked, nor will you treat the wicked as
the righteous. There's an essential fundamental
difference between the rich, the righteous and the wicked.
You will not treat them the same. You're the judge of the earth
and the judge of the earth will give everybody exactly what they
deserve. God is no respecter of persons. Turn with me to Matthew 20. Matthew 20, this is a familiar
parable that the Lord gives. For the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning
to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the
laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
And he went out about the third hour, nine o'clock, saw others
standing idle in the marketplace, and he said unto them, Go ye
also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right." Have you ever noticed
that? whatsoever is right, I'll give
you. Now you can bet on this. You're
going to be given whatsoever is right. And let's go on reading. And again, verse five, he went
out about the six hour and the ninth hour and did likewise.
And about the 11th hour, he went out and found others standing
out. 5 p.m. And saith unto them, why stand
ye here all the day idle? They said to him, because no
man hath hired us. He saith unto them, go ye also into the vineyard,
and whatsoever is right, that shall you receive. God is going
to give fair and equitable wages all the time. He gives what is
right. So when evening was come, the
Lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labors
and give them their hire, beginning from the last into the first.
And when they came that were hired about the eleven hour,
they received every man a penny. But when they came to the first,
they suppose that they should have received more. Wouldn't
you suppose that? He works an hour. I work twelve. You're giving him the same thing
as me. That's not Right. I'd say that. You'd say that. Verse 11, when they received
it, they murmured against the good man of the house saying
these that have wrought, but one hour thou has made them equal
to us, which are born the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them said,
friend, I do thee no wrong. Did thou not agree with me for
a penny? Take that thine is and go thy way, and I'll give unto
this last even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with mine own? Is thine I evil, because I am
good? So the last shall be first, and
the first last for many called, but few chosen. He gave what
is right. Now, it seems to me he gave to
that one hour worker that which is merciful and gracious. That's
not what he said. He said he gave that which is
right. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse
10. For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things
done in his body according to that which he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. Now, we know from Matthew chapter
20 that that's not teaching that what most people use it for.
There'll be a judgment of believers works that you'll receive rewards
because of the deeds done in your body, you'll get a higher
reward in heaven and somebody else will get a lower reward.
That's foolishness. It's contrary to the gospel.
And in Matthew chapter 20, that's already blown away. Everybody
got the exact same thing, didn't they? But here is the glorious
mystery of the gospel. Christ took in his body the things
that I did in my body. And the things he did in his
body is placed in my body. So that the things that I've
done are good. He bore my sin for me and put
it away. And all the perfect obedience
of his body is placed in me. My sin, he bore in his own body
on the tree. I don't know what all that means. It's too horrible to think about,
really. But my filth, my sin, he bore in his own body on the
tree. And I bear in my body his very
righteousness, so that the things done in my body are all good. I turn to Luke 18. Now, remember
the statement All the wicked believe themselves
to be righteous. And all the righteous believe
themselves to be wicked. We have this in such clear language
in Luke chapter 18, verse nine. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and
despised others. If you think any righteousness
comes out of you, you are self-righteous. That's what self-righteousness
is. Any righteousness that comes from you, self-righteous. You would be one of the wicked
who believe themselves to be Righteous. That's what this man
is. We have two men. And he spake
this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous. And what happened? They despised others. They looked
down upon others. They had a righteousness based
upon comparison. I'm better than that guy. I might
not be perfect, but I'm better than them. I'm better than them.
I'm more on and on. It's a righteous by comparing
yourself with somebody else. You can always find somebody
that you think you're a little better than them. And that is because
of the blindness of your heart, not understanding what righteousness
is in the first place. But two men, verse 10, two men. And these are the two representative
men. They represent the righteous and the wicked. I love the way
the Lord always gives us two representative men, Cain and
Abel. Well, here we have two representative men, the righteous
and the wicked. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one A Pharisee and the other, a publican. A Pharisee
was the straightest, strictest form of the Jewish religion. It's not in the Old Testament.
It's something that came up in 150 BC and it was a denomination
and we were the strictest denomination. You think of the strictest denomination
you can think of, that's the Pharisees. I mean, they told
the lie, the Pharisees. And the publican, you know what
a publican is? He was a tax collector employed. He was a Jewish man employed
by the Roman government to take money and he could pad your bill
to himself. He was protected by the Roman
government. It wasn't a thing you could do about it. You'd
hate his guts. I mean, he was, he was taking your money illegally
and there's not a thing you could do about it. The most despised
man in all of Israel, the most religious man, the Pharisee,
the most despicable man, the publican. Well, verse 11, the
Pharisee stood. He felt pretty self-confident. He stood and prayed thus with
himself. I love the way the Lord points
that out. He wasn't praying to the Lord. He thought he was,
but he wasn't. He's praying to himself. His prayers didn't get
any farther than the ceiling. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. God, I thank thee. I'm giving
God the credit for this. I think this fellow is a Calvinist.
I thank thee. I'm giving you the credit. I'm
not giving myself the credit. I'm far too humble to do that.
I thank thee. For what? His mercy? His grace? The blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ? No. I thank thee that I am not
as other men are. Extortioners. Unjust. adulterers, or even as this publican,
I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
Now, this man's hope was in what he did do and what he did not
do. That was all of his hope in what
he did do and what he did not do. He gave God the credit for
it. Verse 13 in the publican, Standing far off, I'm sure that
the Pharisee was in the front of the church and the publican
was in the back. He wouldn't lift up so much as his eyes unto
heaven. I'm sure the Pharisee was praying
like that. Not this fella. His eyes were down. He would
not so much lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his
breast. That's where his problem was,
his heart. That's what made everything he did bad, that bad heart he
had. He knew that. My heart's bad.
Somebody says, oh, my son's good hearted. No, he's not. Well,
my mother's good hearted. No, she's not. This man knew
his problem was his heart, his evil heart. God saw the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. This man saw that with regard
to himself. He beat upon his breast. Say. God. Be merciful to me, a sinner. Now that word merciful is propitious. It's not the word we generally
translate merciful, propitious. That's a big word. What's it
mean? Be a sin removing sacrifice for me. You see, if you know
anything about your sin, you know, you can't do anything to
make it go away. You know the only way it can be made to go
away is if God is propitiated through the sacramental. The
definite article is used. God be propitiated. Who believed himself to be righteous.
And we have the righteous authority with it. This is not some preacher
or some denominational doctrine. I tell you. There's the authority. I tell you, he spake as one having
authority and not as... I tell you, this man went down
to his house having been shown mercy, forgiven, given grace. That's not what he said. All
those are true, but that's not what he said. He said, this man
went down to his house justified, absolutely, perfectly righteous rather than the other. For everyone that exalts himself. Now, what does it mean to exalt
yourself? There's so many things we can
say about it, but here's the bottom line. If you think your
salvation in any way is because of something you did, if you
believe in free will, you're exalting yourself. If you think
your salvation is because of, God looked in favor on you because
of something you've done, like the Pharisee, I've done this,
I didn't do that, you'll be amazed. And he that humbles himself.
And we find a real clear picture as to what humbling yourself
is before God. God be propitious to me, the
sinner. He that humbleth himself shall
be exalted. Now, these men are the righteous
and the wicked. And they're going to be treated
very differently. The wicked man who believed himself
to be righteous is going to be in hell. The righteous man who
believed himself to be wicked is going to be eternally in the
presence of Jesus Christ. The righteous and the wicked.
I hope me and you are praying this prayer in our heart right
now. God be propitious.