Thank you, Tom. In him is the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's the message we heard.
And the next verse says, and you are complete in him. I was thinking as Chris was preaching
that the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ has always been the offense
of the gospel. He, um, declared himself to be
God, and they wanted to stone him for it. And he asked them,
he said, for what good work do you seek to stone me? He said,
no, no, not for any good works, but because you, being a man,
make yourself out to be God. It's still the same, nothing's
changed. Men don't want a Christ who is God. Absolutely sovereign
and successful in the salvation of his people. Chris, thank you. Todd Nybert needs no introduction
here. I love you, brother. I'm thankful
you're here. Lynn, I'm so happy you're here. I don't remember, Trisha was
sick or I was sick, but the last time Todd and Lynn were here,
I wasn't able to be here. And so thank you for coming. Todd, we look forward to hearing
the message the Lord's put on your heart. Last year, after the meeting,
I said, we could use some rails up those steps. And I was very grateful. I always
feel a little bit awkward when I'm trying to work. I don't have
something to grab onto. But thank you. It's so wonderful to be with
you. Love this church. Love the pastor. Just a great privilege. Would you turn to Luke chapter
18? Luke, the 18th chapter. I've entitled this message a
definitive parable. And I hope you'll understand
why. by the end of this message, a definitive parable. In verse nine, 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, a Pharisee, and the
other, a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank thee And 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. And the publican, standing afar off. would not lift up so much as
his eyes unto heaven, but smoked upon his breast, saying, God,
be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, what authority is there? I tell you, This man went down
to his house justified. You know what that means? It means having never sinned. Rather than the other, For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased. There's a scripture in the book
of Daniel where we read, them that walk in pride, he knoweth
how to abase. And he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. I entitled this message a definitive
parable because this parable can be used to summarize the
entire message of the Bible. All of the Bible And I say this with fear. I don't want to simply
give my own thoughts and own opinions. That scares me. Pray
for me that I might be enabled to pray for the, preach the gospel
and pray for yourself that you might be enabled to hear the
gospel. Pray for me. All of the message
of the scripture is found in this one parable. And this book we call the Bible
claims inspiration. Second Timothy 3, 16 says all
scripture, that means all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Literally God breathed, spoken
exactly as God would have it said, all scripture. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And God gives us this book to
tell us who he is. That's the purpose of scripture
is to tell us who he is. Somebody says, well, how could
I believe that the Bible really is the inerrant word of God?
How do you expect me to believe that? Well, Do you believe that
God created the heavens and the earth from nothing? If you believe that, it's easy
to believe that God inspired the Bible and had it written
exactly as he would have it written to reveal his gospel. And this book is given to teach
us who he is and what he's like. And let me say this, he's utterly
unique. There is nothing and there is
nobody like him. Let me read you a scripture from
Isaiah chapter 45, verse five. God says, I am the Lord and there
is none else. There is no God beside me. I
girded thee though thou has not known me. Speaking to Cyrus.
And this has said several hundred years before Cyrus is even born. that they may know from the rising
of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is none
else. Listen to these words. I form
the light and create darkness. I make peace and Create evil. That's God speaking. I the Lord
do all these things. He said in Isaiah 46 verse nine,
remember the former things of old for I am God and there's
none else. I am God and there's none like
me. You see, God is other. And his word declares his otherness. Now, there are some things we
can know about God without the Bible. You can look at creation. Everybody has at one time or
the other. Every man or woman born into this world has looked
at creation. and said, somebody made all this
and nobody made him. Something cannot come from nothing. You know, that's a law of physics.
Every effect must have a cause. If there's motion, there had
to be some kind of effect that, I mean, cause that caused that
motion and brought it into pass. That's, there's one reason Something
is God. God. God created the heavens
and the earth. There are some things that we
can know about God, but there are a lot of things that we cannot
possibly know about him unless he gives us a written revelation
of himself. Without this book, it's my opinion
or your opinion, which how valuable is that? Not at all. But God has given this book called
the Bible so that we can know who he is. The Bible is not a science book.
One of these days science will catch up. But the Bible does give his character
and there's nothing that spells out his character more clearly
than this statement in verse 14 of our text. I tell you, I
love it when the Lord says that. Here's the authority, I tell
you. You've heard it been said by
them of old, I say it to you. Here's the authority, I tell
you. This man, this self-condemned
man who by his own confession was a sinner, an evil man, a lawbreaker, a
wicked man. If you had asked him, are you
a sinner? He would have said, so yes, with
shame. That's what I am. And I'm not proud of it. And
I'm not justifying it in any way. But yet the Lord Jesus Christ,
he said, I tell you, this man went down to his house How? Justified. Having never sinned. Standing
before God's law without guilt. Having never sinned. Nothing to feel guilty about.
You know, another way to think about this is I think of the
Lord saying to that woman who had been taken in adultery in
the very act. And he said, woman, where are
those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. He said, neither do I condemn
thee. How? Because there was nothing
to condemn her for. That is the power of the gospel. There was nothing to condemn
her for. Now, how can that be? This man, by
his own confession, was a sinful man, a lawbreaker, and the same
one who said, I will by no means clear the guilty. You hear that? I'll by no means clear a guilty
sinner. Said with regard to this man,
I tell you, he went down to his house justified. Every attribute of God is displayed
in that. Now, let me give you the short
answer. How can that be? The cross. The cross. That's how that can
be. That's how God can say with regard
to me, Todd Nyberg, he never sinned and it'd be real. It'd
be real. It's not just saying that when
it's not. I've heard people, and I've even
done it myself before. Justification is just as if I
never sinned. There's one problem with that.
If I'm just as if I never sinned, that means I still sin. Justified before God. Now, when the Lord made this
statement, I think it's very interesting that he gave no comment
as to how that could be. He uses the entire Bible to tell
us how that can be. God being just, absolutely righteous,
and yet justifying the ungodly. God created the universe for
the cross. Do you believe that? Every attribute of God is displayed
in the cross and the cross is how God can be just and call
me somebody without sin and it be real. Not just religious talk,
not just pie in the sky, but how I stand before God Every
believer that Christ died for stands before God, having never
sinned. Now, only the Bible deals with
this issue, how God can be just and justify the ungodly. It's
not even an issue in the Muslim religion or the Hindu religion
or the Buddhist religion. The thought's not even brought
up. It's not something they're concerned about. You know, talk
about comparative religions. You can't compare the gospel
to any religion. And only the gospel deals with
this glorious truth that reveals to us the character of God. How
God can be just and justify the ungodly. Now what I think is
interesting about this parable, a lot of things interesting about
this parable, but this parable gives us the two representative There's only two kinds of men
in this world, and they're both represented right here. You and
I are in one of these groups. Two kinds of men. Those who trust
in themselves, that they are righteous, and those who trust
Christ only for righteousness. That's the only two kind of men
that are walking this planet. Those who trust in themselves,
that they are righteous. And those who trust only Christ
as their personal righteousness before God. Blaise Pascal, the 17th century
French mathematician and physicist made this observation, which
in my opinion, This is the greatest uninspired statement that I've
ever heard. And by uninspired, I mean, it's
not in the Bible. It's taught throughout the Bible,
but it was made by man and he made this observation. There are two kinds of people
in this world, the righteous and the wicked. All of the righteous, without
exception, believe themselves to be wicked. And all of the
wicked, without exception, believe themselves to be righteous, or
at least have the potential to be righteous. I may be a wicked
man, I may be a murderer, a drunk, a drug addict, a dope pusher,
but I can straighten things up If I put in the right environment,
I can be righteous. I at least have the potential to
be righteousness. Now these are the two men described in our
text. Verse nine, and he spake this
parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and despised others. And let me say this before I
go on. If you are a believer, you see both of these men in
you. You're sure of that. You see
yourself described by each one of these individuals. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and anyone who has any personal
righteousness. Please hear me. You're somebody
who despises others. You're harsh, critical, judgmental
of others. You become an expert in seeing
the moat in others' eyes. You can see very clearly. You
can see everybody's faults. Everybody's wrongdoings. This goes along with being this
man. Verse 10, two men. These are the two representative
men. I will be describing myself. I will be describing you. There's
no question about that. These are the two representative
men. They represent every man to ever
live. Two men went up into the temple
to pray. They both had some idea of their
need of God and their need to pray. They both believed themselves
to be worshipers of God. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee was the very religious,
very moral, very committed, very dedicated man. His name means
separated one. Somebody says, where'd the Pharisees
come from? Well, they came around some 150 years before the time
of Christ, some kind of religion. They were just, it was the strictest
of all religions. The one, a Pharisee, a very moral,
a very righteous man, as we would say. And the other, a publican,
a Jewish man who was employed by the Roman government to collect
taxes. And he did that. And when he
would present them their bill, he would add on something for
himself. And he was protected by the Roman government. And
can you imagine how enraging that would be when he gave you
the bill and you had to pay it when you knew that he was being
enriched at your expense through him stealing from you? Can you
imagine how you would hate this man? He was a hated and despised
man. A very sinful man, a very immoral
man, a very unprincipled man. Now that's just the case. That's
the facts with regard to this man. One, a very religious, moral
man. The other, a disgusting person that you would
not like. Somebody who's done you terribly
wrong. These are the two men that went
up into the temple to pray. Verse 11, the Pharisee stood. He was a very confident
man. And then the Lord gives us this
detail. He prayed thus with himself. He didn't have the favor of God.
Don't you love the way the Lord can say something in just a couple
of words and so much in it. He prayed thus with himself.
Don't even think, don't even suspect that he had the ear of
God's favor. Oh, God heard him. He heard him,
but not with favor. He prayed thus with himself. His posture, he stood. He was
a confident man. I hear his words. God, I thank thee. He was reformed. He wasn't an
Arminian. He wasn't a freewheeler. He gives
God the credit. I'm far too humble to give myself
the credit for my wonderful life. God, I thank thee. I want you to notice what he
doesn't thank God for. I thank you for the gift of your
son. I thank you for the freeness
of your grace. I thank you for your mercy. I
thank you for the forgiveness of sins. Nothing like that. As a matter
of fact, I want us all to notice how many times the word I is
mentioned with this man. I thank thee that I and not as
other men are. Extortioners, someone who takes
something from somebody else, takes credit for something that
doesn't belong to him, steals, unjust, a lawbreaker, an adulterer,
or even as this publican, he was aware of that publican in
the temple. I'm sure he would have said, there go I by the
grace of God, but I'm not like that. I'm different. I'm better. I'm certainly not like him. You
know, you can always find somebody that you're better than in your
own mind. I can. If I want to start doing
that, I'm deceived when I do it, but I can do it. You can
do. You can find somebody you can
compare yourself with. And that's what this man was
doing at this time. I'm not like him. My life's changed. I'm different. I'm not like him. I thank you
for that. I give you the credit. But understand
this, this man's hope was in what he did do and what he didn't
do. Bottom line, his hope was in
what he did do and what he didn't do. I'm no extortioner. I'm not unjust. I'm not an adulterer. I don't
do those things. Let me tell you what I do do.
I fast twice in the week. I'm self-denial. I give tithes
of all that I possess, and I guarantee you a lot of people would like
to have him for a church member. Tithes of all you possess, all the time?
Wow. Join him up. This man had No understanding of sin. I think it's interesting. Nobody
likes this man. You don't like him, do you? What
a jerk. What a self-righteous jerk. I
think of that passage where Paul said, for a righteous man, scarcely
for a righteous man would one die. Would you die for a guy
like this? No, he's a jerk. He's a self-righteous jerk. We
don't like him. Is he very close to you? He's
real close, isn't he? I'm not talking about the person
beside you either. He pats himself on the back. If he had any understanding of
sin, he would say, I'm unjust. I'm a lawbreaker. I haven't kept
one commandment one time in my heart. I'm an extortioner. I've taken that which does not
belong to me and give credit to myself. I'm an extortioner. I'm an adulterer, whether in
my mind or committing spiritual adultery. He wouldn't talk about
his acts of self-denial if he knew what he would know. This
is not doing me any good, this thing of fasting and giving my
possessions. Do you know this man? Yes, you do. All too well. Yes, you do. Well, let's leave
this man for a moment. Verse 13. and the publican, standing far off. He believed himself to be utterly
unfit, unqualified, inadequate. Standing afar off, his experience
wasn't any good. He couldn't look at anything
that he thought could commit him to God. He didn't even have
a thought that he could bring to God that he thought could
be acceptable. He stood afar off, very much like Peter. When
the Lord revealed himself to Peter, you know what Peter said?
Depart from me. I'm a sinful man, oh Lord. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. That's the way this man felt.
He stood afar off. And the scripture says he would
not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven. Now, I suppose that
this Pharisee, when he's praying, had his hands up, looking up
in the sky. God, I thank Thee. Not this man. he would not so
much as lift up his eyes to heaven. His head down, beating, smiting
his breast. You see, he knew his problem
was right there. That was the problem. I think of what Jeremiah said
in Jeremiah chapter 17, verse nine, the heart is deceitful
above all things. Desperately wicked. You know
what that means? Incurably wicked. Incurably wicked. That's what this man saw with
regard to himself. He smoked his breast. That's where his problem was. His wicked heart. Incurable. He couldn't make it better. He
smoked on his breast. crying, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. In the original, the definite
article is there, not a sinner, the sinner, the worst man alive. God be merciful to me, the sinner. Now, before we go on, what is
meant by being a sinner? God be merciful to me, the sinner. Real simply, a sinner is the
one who commits the sins. I don't know where preachers
came up with saying God loves the sinner, but he hates his
sins. It's not in the Bible. And God doesn't put sins into
hell. He puts the ones who committed those sins into hell. And this
is what was crushing this man. I am the sinner. If we would interview this man,
he would say, I am the sinner. And he wouldn't be saying
that by way of complimenting himself. I've heard people say, well,
at least I know I'm a sinner. You know, we can even make it
a righteousness if no one were sinners. Congratulations. At least I know I'm a ax murderer.
Oh, that makes it better. This man understood when he cried
out to God I'm nothing but sin. That's all I am. I've never kept one commandment
one time. Would that be you? Be honest. Would that be you?
I've not kept one commandment one time. I am the sinner to
this point I can't look down my nose in judgment on anybody
on anybody my sin is all my fault I can't
shift the blame like Adam did say the woman you gave me she
gave me the fruit now my sins all my fault all my fault you
know unless your sins all your fault you'll never ask for mercy
It's only when your sin is all your fault that you'll ask for
mercy. If it's not your fault, you want justice coming your
way. But if your sin is all your fault, you'll be like this man. You know that if God did not
give you mercy and passed you by, just and holy is his name. And you believe that. God be merciful to me, the sinner. Lord, don't give me what I deserve
on any level. Don't give me what I deserve.
I think it's very interesting in the original, this word merciful
is the word that is propitious. And don't miss this. This is
very important. God be propitious. That's a word that's not used
much in our way of speaking today, but it's a good biblical word.
Propitious is taken from the word propitiation. That means
a sin removing sacrifice. Lord, I can't do anything about
my sin. Do something for me. Be propitious. Remove my sin. I can't make it
go away. Somebody says, stop sinning and
then you'll have mercy. Well, that cuts me out. I can't
do that. Do something. He's asking the
Lord to do something about his sin. When Tom was singing that song
about it is finished, I thought, that's the Lord doing something
about my sin. It's finished. It's accomplished. He did something.
God be propitious. Do something. And that's exactly
what the Lord was doing on the cross. This is how God can be
just and justify the ungodly. Because God did something about
his sin. Because Christ did something
about his sin. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And this was this man's prayer.
You have one man saying, God, I thank thee that I'm such a.
I'm not like other men are. I'm different. I give your grace
the credit. No mention made of. You need to mercy or grace just
as works. what he did and did not do. The other man saw himself
as nothing but sin and cried out, God be propitious, do something
about my sin. Can you pray that right now?
In your heart, Lord, remove my sin. through the great perpetuatory
sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Lord. I can't make you do it.
I'm totally in your hand. Would you be pleased to take
away my sin? He was manifested to take away
our sin. In Him is no sin. If you're in Him,
You have no sin. None. Now let's look at the Lord's
comment on this. He said, I tell you, I tell you, One thing the Lord never said
is, thus saith the Lord. He never needed to, I tell you.
There's no authority like this, I tell you. This man went down to his house. You read it. He didn't say this
man went down to his house forgiven. He didn't say this man went down
to his house having been shown mercy. He didn't say this man
went down to his house having been given grace, although all
those things are true. Who would deny that those were
true? But that's not what the Lord said. He said this man went
down to his house justified. Having never sinned. You know most folks that are
religious that claim to be Christians believe in what they would call
the believer's judgment where you'll be rewarded according
to how obedient you are here on earth or how much you how
little you sinned and how much good you did and so on. I remember I actually heard a
preacher say, now that's the way it's going to be, but it
won't bother you then when you're, it'll bother me a whole lot. But thank God I stand before
God because of what Jesus Christ did for me, having never sinned. That's what justification is.
I understand this. Justification is an act of God. He doesn't ask you if you want
to be justified, but what do you want to be condemned or justified?
Take your pick, choose. No, it's Eve. It's who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect. God, it is God that justifies. This is the act of God and beloved. It's an act of his grace. Being
justified freely by his grace. It comes because of the precious
blood of Christ. Remember, God's law is honored
in the blood of Christ. That sin is punished and put
away, being justified, being now justified, Romans 5, 9, by
His blood. Justification. My notes are missing, but I think
I remember what I want to say. I have bad dreams about this. This is one of them. No, it's
not. I mean, but I do have bad dreams
about this. It's called a stress dream, I guess, because my great
fear is that it's usually somebody picks up my Bible, and they take
my notes, and I got to get up and don't know what to say. But
I believe you know what to say. This man went down to his house
justified, cleared of all guilt, rather than the other. And then
he gives the unalterable law of the kingdom of heaven. For,
look what he says, for everyone that exalteth himself, like this
Pharisee did. He exalted himself. I know he
had some religious language in it. I thank God, but he exalted
himself. That's all it was, nothing more.
Everyone that exalts himself shall be abased. God was able to do it. Then the
walking pride, he knoweth how to abase. And everyone that humbles
himself, like this publican did, shall be exalted. Now listen to this real carefully. It's true. God elected a people. It's true that Jesus Christ died
for the elect and accomplished their salvation. It's true that
God, the Holy Spirit, gives those the father elected and those
the son redeemed, saving faith, a new heart. He birthed them
again. That's all true. And I'm thankful
there wouldn't be any salvation without this. That's all true. But remember this. God will meet you on the ground. You come to him. If you come like this Pharisee,
he'll meet you there and it won't be good. But if you come, you, me, if
you come like this publican, God, be propitious. Do something about my sin. There's
nothing I can do about it. I can't make it go away. Do something
about my sin. Let it be removed through the
blood atonement of your son. You'll be received on that ground. And you are exalted by God himself, even now. And every attribute
of God is displayed in this parable, this definitive parable. how God's justice is magnified
in making a way to be just and justify the ungodly, how His
grace is magnified, how His love is magnified in giving His Son,
how His wisdom is magnified in making a way to be just. You and I couldn't come up with
anything like this. And if we could, we couldn't execute it.
Every attribute of God, His immutability, His sovereignty, every attribute
of God is on full display in how He can be just and justify
the ungodly through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The disciples asked the Lord,
why do you speak to them in parables? And the Lord said, because it's
not for them to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. Truth
of the gospel is made known to the hearts of God's people through
these parables. What a blessing. Hebrews chapter
nine, verse 28. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many And unto them that look for him, shall
he appear the second time without sin, without sin unto salvation. That's our hope. We stand before
God, not having our own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
righteousness, which is by the faith, faithfulness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm glad I was here tonight.
Both those messages, man, were blessings. Thank you. I know
it's going to be cold in the morning, but I promise it'll
be warm in here. So we'll meet back here at 10
o'clock and be finished by noon or so and then come back again
tomorrow night. So it's a full weekend, I know,
but that's why we're here. And I'm so thankful. Tom, we're
going to close the service with 232. Let's stand together. Number 232.