Let's turn in our Bibles now
to Luke chapter 18. Luke 18. Wouldn't it be just a horrible
thing to think that you were righteous and accepted of
God only to find out you weren't? We have a very, very desperately wicked foe that we
have to contend with constantly. It's our flesh. It's our deceitful
heart. Our Lord spoke this parable that
is our text tonight, and He spoke it to some who thought they were
righteous. Look at Luke 18 verse 9. It says,
and he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves
that they were righteous and despised others. Now that's the
Lord's audience. This is who he's speaking to.
He's speaking to certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous and despised others. How can you know if you're like
those that the Lord was speaking to? How can we know if we're
like these in the audience that our Lord was speaking to? Well,
if there's something that you regard in you as good, or something
that you've done whereby you think you're righteous, whereby
God will receive you, then were like these in this text that
trusted in self. They trusted in themselves that
they were righteous. And they despised others. Now
the point our Lord made in this parable is given down in verse
14. And this will be the point of our message. He said there
towards the end of that verse, everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased. and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted." Now that's the point he's making. That's
the message that he's conveying here in this parable. Everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. Now let's begin here with verse
10. It says, he says in this parable, two men went up into
the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. Now
the Master sets before us here two men who are as opposite as
men can get, and the audience to whom he's speaking this to
would have regarded these two men as opposite as they could
possibly be. The Pharisee was like those in
the Master's audience. The Pharisee was like those he
was speaking to. They would have regarded him
as a very holy and a very righteous man. just the most pious and
perfect and upright man there was. But this publican, this
publican, they would have despised. They would have, when they heard
him start this parable and say there was two men, one was a
Pharisee, one was a publican, their minds would have automatically
thought that what he was fixing to convey to them was about to
show them something awful about this publican. and something
wonderful about this Pharisee because this publican was one
that they just utterly despised. He was a tax collector. He was
a traitor against the Jews on nation. He turned and was working
for the Romans and he was collecting taxes from them for the Romans
and he was robbing the people. He was extorting the people.
He was just a thief and an unjust and a despised and wicked man.
Well, they thought that this man was one who was beneath them.
That's what they would have thought. They would have despised him.
Now, I want to look at three things here. The first, we'll
just look at the Pharisee. Then secondly, we'll look at
the publican. And then thirdly, we'll see the end of these two
men. I've titled this, One Exalted, One Abased. Now, here's the Pharisee,
verse 11 and 12. The Pharisee 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 in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. Now, the Pharisee exalted himself,
first of all, in the manner in which he came before God. It
says there in verse 11, the Pharisee stood and prayed. He went right
up in front of everybody. He drew right up close to the
holy place in the temple. He went right up there loud and
proud for everybody to hear him and see him in his prayer. He
was a self-exalting man. That's what the outward The outward
showed what was in his heart. Self-exalting men like to be
seen and they like to be heard. They like to be regarded as wise.
They like to be regarded as righteous. They like to be regarded as pious
and holy men. What he did outwardly showed
the inward corruption of his own heart. Is your religion,
let me ask you this, is your religion a religion of show? Let's be honest about ourselves.
Is our religion a religion of show? Do we come here and go
through the motions so that others will see us here? Do you ever
have the thought that, well, I've missed a few times. If I
don't show up, they're going to think bad of me. That's what
I'm talking about. Do we come here to be seen? Do
we come here so that others will see us? In the world, when you're
going through your day-to-day in the world, do you say things
so that other folks know you're religious? Religious folks love
to say, have a blessed day. Folks will be carrying on like
they've just never even heard of God before in front of me.
And if they hear I'm a pastor, they'll end up, oh, have a blessed
day. All of a sudden, everything turns
religious. Do you wear your religion on
your sleeve? Do you wear it on the bumper
of your car? Do you wear it so that men will behold you? True
humility. You know what true humility is?
It's worshipping God in the heart. That's what it is. It's worshipping
God in the temple that God has created by the Holy Spirit. That new man, that inward man
that He's made. God's not worshipped with hands. with our hand. He's worshipped
in spirit and in truth in that new man in the heart that he's
made. That's where he's worshipped. That's true worship and that
worship's not for the purpose of being seen of men. Even in
public worship, we come here and we sing, we pray, we hear
the gospel and all of this. Even when we're doing it, when
I stand here in front of you to pray, It's still that we have in singing,
in praying, in hearing the message, worshiping God, this is done
in the heart. We have to enter into that secret
place of the heart to worship God in our hearts with God. It's just not outward in these
bodies and in this flesh. It's done in the secret place
of the heart. Any time we think about coming here just because
we want others not to think bad of us, that's hypocrisy. That's
not worshiping God. That's just not true worship.
True humility, true believers come before God in private and
in public. They come before God in public
like they do in private. Because they have to have the
mercy of God. We have to have the word of God. We have to have God speak into
our heart and teach us in our heart and commune with us in
our heart. We have to have it. It's not
a... Just something extra. It is our
life. We have to have God. We have
to have Him ministering into our hearts by His Spirit. That's
what a believer has to have. So we don't do it to be seen
of men. Our Lord said, when you do your alms, don't do it to
be seen of men. He said, when you pray, He said,
don't pray to be seen of men. He said, hypocrites love to pray
standing to be seen. And He said, and that's the reward
they seek. They won't seek the praise and
applause of men, and they get it. That's what they wanted.
They get it. But He said, you enter into your closet. You enter
into the secret place. If we're in private or public,
wherever we are, it's not doing it to be seen of men. And even
in the public worship, it's entering into the heart. We have to get
these words down in our heart. I don't want to just stand up
and speak by myself. I don't want to just stand up
and pray words to be saying prayers. I want to pray. I want to worship
God. I want to enter into what the
message is that God has given. That's what I want. That's what
you want. That's what we want here. Well, then secondly, look
here, the Pharisee exalted himself in the subject of his prayer.
Verse 11 said he prayed thus with himself. It means he prayed
about himself. What it means, he didn't cry
for mercy. He didn't come talking about
his sin. He didn't come talking about his nothingness. He came
talking about Himself. He came talking about how pleased
He was with Himself. And that's not prayer at all.
Anytime that we pray from a motive other than exalting God, seeking
mercy and grace from His hand, thanking Him, praising Him, honoring
Him, and ourselves completely low and nothing whatsoever. Anytime
we pray for any other motive other than that, it's complete
and total hypocrisy. It's not praying at all. If we're
trying to make a point to somebody in our praying, if we're trying
to rebuke somebody in a prayer, any of those Things that are
garbage, it's not prayer. It's not prayer. True prayer
is coming at God, nobody seeking mercy and honoring Him. And then
look, the Pharisee exalted himself by declaring himself holier than
other men. And he did so based on what he
had not done. Look at verse 11. He said, God,
I thank Thee that I'm not as other men are. extortioners,
unjust, adulterers. Now, he wasn't thanking God.
He wasn't thanking God for what God had done. He wasn't thanking
God that the Spirit of God had come to him, a dead sinner, and
quickened him to life, and granted him repentance from God and faith
from God as a gift from God, all by the free grace of God,
so that he could actually behold who God is. and come to God a
broken and contrite sinner and worship God in the Spirit and
in truth. That wasn't what he was thanking
God for. He wasn't thanking God that he was righteous and just
by the work of Christ. He wasn't thanking Him that God
chose His own Son and sent His own Son into this world and that
His Son came forth and worked all the works required to make
Him righteous and so that now his son gets all the glory and
all his acceptance with God. He wasn't thanking God for that.
He wasn't thanking God that God had restrained him by His grace
and made him so that he wasn't an extortioner and an unjust
man and an adulterer. Everything that you see, the
evil and wickedness that you see in the worst of men in this
earth is in the best of men in this earth. It's in us. And the only difference is God's
restraining hand of grace. He wasn't thanking God for that.
He was justifying himself before God. He said, God, I thank you. I'm not as other men are. That's
what he was thinking. This is self-righteousness. It's
self-righteousness arrogantly imagining that self is better
than other men because of self, because of something I've done.
That's arrogance. Now let me ask you honestly,
do you imagine yourself to be better than other men? Now think
about that. Do you imagine yourself to be
better than anybody else? There may be somebody that's
close to you that's committed some grievous sin that you know
about. And maybe they do things that
indeed are wrong, things that you don't do, things that you
have not done, things that you never imagine yourself ever doing. But do you really think you're
better than them? I don't care how bad they are.
Do we think there is anybody in this earth that we're better
than? Anybody? That same holier-than-thou attitude,
it's in irreligious folks too. Those who care nothing for the
gospel, those that don't have anything to do with religion
whatsoever, they usually think that everybody in religion, all
religious folks, just have that holier-than-thou spirit about
them. But did you know that that same spirit is in you who have
never come to Christ and begged Him for mercy? That's right. It's self-righteousness, this
same holier-than-thou spirit that we see in this Pharisee,
that's what's keeping sinners from coming to Christ for mercy
and begging Him for mercy. Not sin. Sin's not. Sin has never
kept one person from coming to Christ. Self-righteousness, this
holier-than-thou spirit, that's what keeps sinners from coming
to Christ. You can search these scriptures. You can search these
scriptures over, and you never find one self-righteous person
coming and begging Christ for mercy. Not one. You find many
sinners doing it. Many sinners come to Him. That's
the only ones that did ever come to Him and truly beg Him for
mercy. We're sinners, vile, wretched, wicked sinners. But you won't
find one self-righteous man that thought himself righteous in
himself ever coming to Christ and asking for mercy. That's
what keeps us from God. If we think that we trust in
ourselves that we're righteous, we'll despise others. With somebody
of that haughty, arrogant spirit, that makes us look down our nose
at somebody else for their wickedness? God despises that. In Isaiah
65, verse 5, He said, Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near
to me, for I am holier than thou. These are smoke in my nose, a
fire that burneth all the day. That's what God said. God only
is righteous. Christ Jesus alone is the righteousness
of God. He's the righteousness that we
have to be found in. Those that come to Christ confessing
their sin and begging mercy shall find mercy and they'll be saved
in the righteousness of our Redeemer. But those who meet God with that
spirit thinking that there's just that one person and I think,
he's just, I'm not like him. I'm glad I'm not like him. You
know that right there keeps us from coming to Christ, honestly.
It keeps us coming from Christ and confessing our sins to Christ. If you meet God in that spirit,
this is what He said, the lofty looks of man shall be humbled,
and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone
shall be exalted in that day. You know what He's telling us?
He's telling us that in yourself and in myself, we're no better
than any other sinner. Now, you gotta remember, he's
using a publican here on purpose in this parable. He's using somebody. It would be like if I could read
the minds of somebody here that was, say they had somebody they
just despised as being a wicked sinner, and I could say, let
me use them as the illustration. He's using somebody here that
they would look at and say, I can't stand that person. He's wicked. That's who he was using. Why? As it is written, there
is none righteous, no not one. There's none that understandeth,
there's none that seeketh after God, they're all gone out of
the way, they're together become unprofitable, there's none that
doeth good, no not one. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. That's so of me, that's so of
you, that's so of each of us here brethren. Alright, look
at the next thing. The Pharisee exalted himself
by comparing himself with someone that he esteemed worse than himself. Verse 11, he says, or even as
this publican, or even as this publican. I'm not like other
men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers. I'm not like this publican. Self-righteousness
never compares self with someone better, always somebody worse.
You start talking to somebody about their sin, and you start
talking to somebody about how we are guilty, how we are sinners
in ourselves, how we are corrupt in ourselves, and men will say,
well, I'm not as bad as so-and-so. They always pick out somebody
that's worse than they think is worse than them. I'm not that
bad. Yes, we are. Yes, we are. We're that bad. Religious men
talk a great deal about love. They talk about love and want
to see love in the congregation. Oh, I want to come in and feel
that I'm being loved by everyone in the congregation. Well, that
despising of that one person, that's not love. That's not love. They really despise others. Just
like these who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and
despised others. That's what self-righteousness
does. Self-righteousness is critical of everyone but self. Self-righteousness points out
other people's weaknesses. You'll have some man who's self-righteous
and there'll be faults in this man continually. And he'll come in and he'll criticize
the worship service, he'll criticize your children, he'll criticize,
he'll just pick out the faults of everybody. He never says anything
about himself. I'll tell you something else,
all of this talk that you read about and you see with these
churches that are talking about having these seminars and these
conferences on unhealthy churches and what constitutes unhealthy
churches and all this, you know what they're saying? I thank
God that my church is not as other churches are. That's what
they're doing. They're picking out, they're
critiquing what they consider to be sinful, unhealthy churches
to exalt their church and say, we can fix that. We can show
you how to fix that because we got such good piety and such
righteousness in ourselves. That's self-exalting, brethren. I wouldn't do this. I wouldn't
do that. Psalm 105, let me just read this
to you. Whoso privily, that means privately,
slandereth his neighbor. That's the word slander. You
think going around spreading bad rumors. That means whoso
in the privacy of his own heart, in the privacy of his own home,
begins to criticize and pick out the sins of his neighbor.
and as being unjust. God said, Him will I cut off.
Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. That's all it is. It's self-exalting
at the expense of another. Comparing ourselves with another
is about the most unwise thing we could do. Look over at 2 Corinthians
10. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 12. Paul said, we dare not make ourselves
of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves. But they measuring themselves
by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. That's not wise. You know what
that promotes? the very self-righteousness and
the very pride and the very haughty and high looks that God despises. That's what that promotes. Look
at Acts 17. Look at Acts 17. You want to
measure yourself against somebody? Instead of turning our eyes and
focusing them on that publican, like that Pharisee was doing,
or on that one that we consider to be so wicked and so beneath
us, if we want to really turn ourselves, compare ourselves
to somebody, turn from comparing ourselves to him. Here's the
one to compare ourselves with, Acts 17, 31. God hath appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men, and that he has raised him from the dead. You
see, Christ is the glory of God. He came forth. He didn't come
short of the glory of God. He is the glory of God. Christ
is the righteousness of God. We see the faithfulness and fidelity
and the righteousness and the justice and the mercifulness
and the longsuffering and all the attributes of God Almighty
in Christ. He exhibited them as He walked
this earth in the flesh. Christ is, He is the very one
that God's gonna judge this world in righteousness by one of these
days. And the rest of us, we've all
sinned and come short of that very glory. So before we start
wanting to compare ourselves to somebody else amongst ourselves,
turn your eye upon the Lord Jesus Christ, look at Him. There's
the righteousness we gotta have. And that's not a righteousness
we can obtain by the works of our hand, by our doing, not at
all. But now look again back at our
text in Luke 18. I'm telling you these things,
brethren, because self-righteousness is one of our deadliest enemies.
And this is something that we have to deal with constantly
because it will make us think we're right with God because
we're better than somebody else, we think. That's just terrible. But look now, This Pharisee based
his righteousness on his actions, on his outward actions. Verse
11, he said, I'm not an extortioner, not unjust, I'm not an adulterer.
Then he said in verse 12, I fast twice in a week, I give tithes
of all that I possess. See, he based his holiness on
his morality. He may not have extorted outwardly. He may not have robbed people
outwardly. But in his heart, inwardly, by thinking that that
made him accepted of God or that that made him righteous, because
he hadn't done that, he was robbing God of the glory that belongs
to Christ alone. That's exactly what he was doing.
He may have dealt justly outwardly with men in his daily dealings
with men. He may have been a very just
man in his dealings with men, but thinking doing that made
him accepted of God and justified him before God and put away all
his sin and made him the righteousness God demands? That was dealing
unjustly with God to think that. He may have not been an adulterer.
He may have not outwardly ever been an adulterer. But by thinking
that because he had never committed adultery, he was better than
somebody else that has, that is adultery in the heart against
God. That's turning from Christ in
whom the believers married and to whom is all our fidelity and
our trust and him robbing us in his righteousness and making
us accepted of God by what he's done. That's turning from him
and playing the harlot with ourselves. That's adultery. the worst kind,
and he based his righteousness and acceptance on what he did.
He said, I fast twice in a week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Let's bring this down to me and you. Is there anything I've done
that makes me righteous with God? Can you ask yourself that?
Is there anything you've done that makes yourself righteous
with God? Some preacher pressured you and
made you feel guilty and made you feel bad. And so you decided
to give your heart to Jesus. Did that make you righteous?
If that's what made you righteous, that's trusting in self. That's
trusting something you did. Did joining the church or coming
to church services and all that, does that make you righteous?
I'm thankful that you're faithful. You come, and you're faithful
to come, and I think you do it because you'd like to hear the
gospel. And what I'm saying to you, don't ever think that the
coming here and going through this outward privilege, and that's
what it is. Art had it exactly right. This
is a privilege God's given us, a dear privilege He's given us,
but we never want to ever imagine that we're righteous by it. Our
righteousness is the one we worship when we're here. That's Christ.
Perhaps you don't care for any of this religious stuff. Maybe
you just say I don't care about any of that stuff at all. All
this stuff you're talking about don't even make sense to me and
I don't care anything about it. All I know is I'm not as bad
as the next fellow. Trusting in yourself. That's
trusting in self. Do you think that because you
don't steal that you're righteous? You think that because you deal
justly with others that you're righteous? Do we think that because
we've never committed adultery, we're righteous? You know, if
we did everything, if we could keep the law in thought, word
and deed, we can't. The law's been given to declare
us guilty and shut our mouths. But even if we could, from this
point forward, all we've done is what we should have done.
We're gonna find acceptance with God simply because we've done
what we should have done. But what about all the sin of
the past? But it's all, but we're just
full of sin. We can't even keep it in thought, word and deed.
We got all this evil of our flesh plaguing us constantly. So we
can't make ourselves righteous by what we do. Our best obedience
to the law of God, if we think that's gonna make us acceptable
to God, you know that is directly opposite to God's righteousness. That's directly opposite to how
God will receive sinners. Why are men putting so much emphasis
on law keeping, so much trying to motivate men with the law
and curb men with the law and either reward or punish men with
the law? They always got a whip in one
hand and a carrot in the other hand. Why is that? Using the
law in that way, unlawfully. Why? Because it's direct Anti-christ
is what it is. It's direct opposite of how God
saves sinners Paul said if I do not frustrate the grace of God
if righteousness come by the law if it comes by something
I've done because by my obedience Christ is dead in vain That's
how serious of an offense it is He said, if we depend upon
one part of our law keeping to make us accepted with God, he
said, Christ shall profit you nothing. You are debtor to the
whole law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever you are that's justified by the law. It's a
complete rejection, a turning from the gospel of grace. It's
nothing but an attempt at stealing for self the glory that belongs
to God, to Christ. Look over Philippians 3, 7. Philippians
chapter 3, verse 7. This is true repentance right
here. Remember all the stuff that Paul said he had confidence
in when he was in religion, when he was trusting in himself that
he was righteous? And then he said this, this right
here is true repentance. Turning from us, turning from
anything in us that we thought was good, that we thought was
righteous, that we thought committed us to God, that we thought made
us accepted with God. and trust in Christ to be all
our acceptance. Look, Philippians 3, 7, What
things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea,
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord, for whom I've suffered
the loss of all things, and I don't, he's saying here, and I do count
them but dung. I don't, it's no loss to me at
all. that I might win Christ and be
found in Him, not having my own righteousness, not having one
single thing that I've ever done that could be called righteousness,
that could be had any trust put in it. which is of the law, but
that righteousness which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. There's where I want to be found.
There's where I want to be found. Well, how can I have this righteousness
of Christ? How can I be found in Him? What
is it to be truly resting in Him, found in Him, coming to
Him, and accepted of Him, and presented to the Father by Him.
How can I do that? Look back at our text. Here's
the publican now. Let's look at him. The publican.
The publican. Luke 18, verse 13. And the publican,
standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto
heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me,
a sinner. This publican came abased in
the way he came to God. Verse 13 said he stood afar off.
The Pharisee exhausted himself. He was up front, loud, proud,
in front of everybody. This publican's heart was humbled.
He saw himself far off in sin against God. That's where he
saw himself. And so that's how he came. He
came abased. He stood afar off. The Pharisee
had no fear of God. He thought He was righteous. He was proud. This publican feared
God. He reverenced God. He saw God
high and lifted up. He saw the excellency of the
God that he was coming before. This was coming in the presence
of Holy God in his house, in his temple, and he came with
reverence. Look at the publican, abased
himself even with his eyes to the ground. That Pharisee, the
whole time he was praying, you know what he was doing? He was
looking around as he was praying for somebody that he could say,
I'm a lot more righteous than that one. But this publican,
he wouldn't even so much as lift his eyes up to heaven. Not only
was he not looking at somebody else to criticize and to exalt
himself over, he wouldn't even lift his eyes up to God. He knew
his guilt, he knew his unworthiness, he knew his sinfulness. And then
look at this, the publican abased himself from a broken and contrite
heart. Verse 13, he smote upon his breast. That Pharisee was bragging about
what he did and what he didn't do, and all his externals of
religion in his hands, his touch not, taste not, handle not, all
of that. This publican was smiting where the heart of the problem
was. He was smiting his breast. He was smiting the heart. He
was smiting where that inward corruption is that was causing
him such reverence for his God. For from within, out of the heart
of men, proceed evil thoughts and adulteries and covetousness.
All those things that Pharisee was bragging about, adultery,
fornication, murder, theft, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness,
an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all those things
that he was bragging he'd never done. This publican was smiting
his breast and saying it's all I am. In my heart, it's all I
am. See the difference in these two
men? He was saying, I was shaping iniquity. He was saying, in sin
did my mother conceive me. He was saying, you desire truth
in the inward parts. That's what he was saying to
God. And then look, the publican abased himself in his crying
to God. Verse 11, he said, God be merciful
to me, a sinner. He didn't come expecting to be
acknowledged like the Pharisee did. He expected God to justify
and back him up, everything he was saying about himself. That's
not how this man came though. He came asking for mercy. He
came begging God to be merciful. He came not crying up his goodness. He came confessing himself a
sinner. God be merciful to me, a sinner. You know what you're saying?
When we say we need mercy from God, you know what we're saying?
We're saying we justly deserve eternal condemnation from God. We're saying we justly deserve.
We're taking sides with God against us in what we're saying when
we say we need mercy. We're saying if God does not
withhold from us what we justly deserve, he's right. He's right. And this, the publican, and this
publican, the way he came, we see what Micah 6.8 tells us.
I want you to look there, Micah 6.8. Micah 6.8. You really want to know what
the Lord requires of you? What does the Lord call good,
and what does the Lord require of me and you? Micah 6a. He hath showed thee, O man, what
is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee? But to do justly,
and to love mercy, and to walk humbly. Look at those last three
words. With thy God. This publican,
with God, did justly. He came to God, And he justified
God in confessing he was a sinner. That's what it is to do justly
with God. He came, like David did, saying,
against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest
and clear when thou judgest. That's what it is to do justly
with God. And then secondly, with God, he loved mercy. He
came loving that God saves one way, and that's by mercy. That's
what it is to love mercy with God. He came and he said, God,
be merciful to me. Be propitious to me. That's the
only way I can be accepted of you, God, is in your mercy, in
your love and kindness. That's the only way. And with
God, he walked humbly. He came and He bowed down with
a broken and a contrite heart. He was at the mercy of God to
do with Him as God would. Now that's what God considers
good, and that's what God requires of me and you. To declare God
just in condemning you. To love mercy, that He'll receive
you one way, by His mercy. And to come humbly, broken and
contrite before Him. That's how He came. All right,
now here's, we've seen the two now. We saw the Pharisee, proud,
self-exalting, and then we saw the publican. He came, broken-hearted,
contrite. This wasn't, and you know that,
this wasn't by what he had done. You know, if somebody could come
this way, it's not by works of righteousness which we've done,
but by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
It's by God working his work in our heart. He said, no man
can come unto me except the Father which is in heaven. Draw him.
This man's coming as a picture of a man whose heart, in whom
God's work, the work of grace, and humbled him, and humbled
him. Now here's the end of these two. Verse 14. Luke 18, 14. He
says, I tell you. Now this is Jesus Christ. This
is the God-man mediator. This is the one God chose before
the world began. Christ his son. This is the one
he entrusted all his elect people to before the world was made.
This is the one who's kept them and interceded for them since
the foundation of the world. And he's coming to the earth
and he's the one that went about and fulfilled all the law for
them and redeemed his people from the curse of the law. He's
the one who is the mercy seat. He is the propitiation. He's
the one who is the advocate with his people, with the Father,
for his people with the Father. He is the one that reserves mercy
for thousands. This is him now. And he says,
and I tell you now, when he says that, that means we ought to
listen. We ought to pay very close attention,
more than anything else in this earth. This is the most important
thing you could heed right here. This is God talking. This is
Christ talking. Now hear what he said. I tell
you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than
the other. That Pharisee went to the temple,
full of himself, puffed up, confident in his own righteousness, full
of self-esteem, exalting himself and despising those that he felt
that were more wicked than him. And God abased him. He went home
empty, rejected God, and condemned. And you know the sad thing? He
didn't even know it. God didn't even bother to tell
him. That publican came empty, poor,
lost, confessing his nothingness and his need of God to be merciful
to him. And God exalted him. He came
down, abased, and God lifted him up. God exalted him, justified
him, remembered his sin no more. No record of it at all. blessed
him with the riches of his mercy. And that's how he went home.
Now, here's the lesson the Lord teaches from all that. Verse
14. Everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased. The Pharisee
justified himself and God condemned him. That's what it means. The Pharisee justified himself
and God condemned him. And he that humbleth himself
should be exalted. The publican condemned himself,
and God justified him. See the difference in these two
men? See the difference? Everyone here, I want you to
listen now. There is no sense in trying to fool God. There
is absolutely no sense in any of us trying to fool God. He looks on the heart. He knows
them that are His. He knows and He resists the proud. God resists the proud. Humble yourself, therefore. under the mighty hand of God,
and he will exalt you in due time. And that's true of us,
brethren, all our days. If you're in a situation at work
with your boss or something or with a worker or whatever, you
don't have to exalt yourself. Submit yourself under the mighty
hand of God. He'll exalt you in due time. That's a mighty hand. I mean,
he can do it all for us. We don't have to do anything.
We don't have to fight. Weapons of our warfare are not
carnal. And if we confess our sin, he's faithful and he's just
to forgive us our sin. The sweetest, the most peaceful,
most blessed thing on this earth is to have a heavenly father
that you can come to and just be honest with him. and just
lay out your heart to him and just confess everything to him. That publican didn't come to
a priest. That publican didn't come to a preacher. I can't help
you. I cannot, I can't help you. And
there is no priest. Christ is our high priest. Go
to him and just pour out your heart to him. Pour out your heart to Him. He's
faithful and just to forgive our sins because Christ is the
righteousness of all those that He draws. He's the propitiation. He's the very mercy seat of all
those that God the Father draws to Christ. And He's the righteousness
of all those that He makes accepted to God. I think I hear that publican
singing all the way home. You're still at Micah. Well,
you turned away from there. I should have told you to hold
your prayer. I'll just read this to you. I think I can hear that
publican going home saying this. Who is a God like unto thee?
I came confessing all my wretchedness. I came confessing all my sin
to you, confessing how horrible I am. And he pardoned it, pardoned
my iniquity. He passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger for
ever, because he delighteth in mercy. You see, if we come asking
God for mercy, we come asking God in that which He delights
to give. Mercy. Mercy. But you see, I
hope that's been a blessing to you. I want you to see the difference
between that coming like that Pharisee, coming like that publican
did. It's night and day. One's a work
of God's grace, the other's a work of the flesh. To be worked of
flesh. Eric, let's sing redeemed. Redeemed.