Luke 18, Luke chapter 18. We've
looked at this story many times together, all of us, most of
us. I've preached it, tried to preach
it, heard many others preach it, and I never really saw the
connection with everything before it until now. We should always
learn something new. Lord, back in Chapter 17, talked
about two women grinding, two men in the field, one taking
the other left, one taking the other left, one taking the other
left. Before that, there was a rich man in Lazarus. One was,
it says, Lazarus was died and he was carried up into heaven.
A rich man died and he was buried. Two taken, one left. And this
story is one taken, one left. This story is of a Pharisee and
a publican. You see, this is God's sovereign mercy and sovereign
election. A sister just told me a few minutes
ago, she said, the Lord, when He revealed Himself to me, He
revealed to me that I was the Pharisee. And then He revealed
to me I'm the publican. This is the difference. This
is what separates the wheat from the tare, the sheep from the
goats. All God's people know and believe
that they're publicans. And they pray the prayer of the
publican. They pray the prayer. But two men, look at verse, and
our Lord said in verse 1, He spake a parable to this end that
men ought always to pray, not faint. And then when he ended
that parable, he said, when the Son of Man comes, shall he find
faith on the earth? Shall he find someone like this
woman who keeps calling, who keeps calling, who keeps coming?
Someone like this woman who has a constant, continual battle
and struggle with the adversary, with sin, all their days. And
they will never quit calling on the Lord to help them with
this adversary. And you never hear that, but
we all God's people feel that though. It never goes away. And it won't till the day we
die. Yes, you'll find faith where he put it. He spoke that parable
to that end. It's to his disciples, chiefly.
Now in verse 9, he says he spake this parable unto certain which
trusted in themselves. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves. Do you trust in yourself? No, none of God's people do.
Right away I'm going to give you some comfort. You know that
in you, that is in yourself, dwelleth no good thing. Right? Who knows that? When the Son
of Man comes, will He find anybody believing that? Yeah, God's people. A remnant. They trusted, certainly
trusted in themselves that they were righteous. They despised
and looked down on others. Oh, righteous? We know if we're righteous, we
know where we get it, don't we? Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. Surely
shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness. Right? One will say that. The other,
most others, don't. What a blessing to know that
we're Pharisees. They were two men, verse 10,
went up into the temple to pray. Two men went to church, I entitled
it. Two men went to church. A lot
of people do. One was a Pharisee and the other
a publican. Now, Pharisee, the word means
separatist. That's what it means, separatist.
One who separates themselves, who thinks of themselves as being
better than, holier than thou, you know. set up Pharisees are
mentioned a hundred times in the scripture 100 times why because
there's so many they were everywhere or then and now and we still
have one in us okay so this this is addressed to us too we need
to hear what he says about the Pharisee And we sure need to
hear what he says about the public. Religious separatists, they think
their holy, righteous, moral are saved because of what they
do or don't do. That's what this man pleaded,
what he did not do and what he did. Don't you love that old
story of a woman that was talking to a man and said, there's a
big difference between your religion and mine. And he said, your religion
consists of two letters, D-O, do, do, do, do. He said, mine's
four, D-O-N-E, done. David said, thou hast made me
glad through thy work. I will triumph by the works of
thy hands. When Christ hung on the cross,
he said, and this is our salvation. It is finished. Done. All done for us. Isn't that wonderful? Only a sinner, only a sinner
loves that. Only a publican loves that. What do the Pharisees like to
do? They like to do. They pride themselves what they
do. They trust in themselves, not Christ. They trust. Trust
means have confidence in, to believe in. They believe in themselves.
Who was it talking to me this morning? I forget. Nancy, I forget. I was just talking
to him. Doesn't matter. But he said,
you know, the world wants you to believe in yourself. Was that
you? I will. The world, this is what
the world said. Believe in yourself. Forgive
yourself. Isn't that modern philosophy?
Here's your problem. You need to forgive yourself.
You need to do something for yourself. You need to help yourself.
There's lots of self-help books. And the next message is going
to deal with self. But have confidence in yourself. Paul said three
things that mark God's people. They worship God in the Spirit.
They really do worship God. They rejoice in Christ Jesus.
Why? Because He's our salvation. and have no confidence in the
flesh. No confidence in anybody's flesh,
especially our own. None. In my flesh dwelleth no
good thing. This old man in me is my enemy. But no Pharisees trust in themselves. They trust in their own heart.
They believe, I've got a good heart. David said, created me
a clean heart. He had a new heart. Explain this. David was a man after God's own
heart, and yet his heart tamed him. And he said, created me
a clean heart, renewed within me a right spirit. David, aren't
you led by the Spirit of God? Yep. But the Holy Spirit shows
you that old man within, and He convicts you of that old man
constantly, so that you'll hate him, so you'll kill him. Don't
worry about it. They trust in their heart, though. They trust
in their goodness. A lady said, I asked the lady yesterday, how
are you doing? She said, I'm doing good. She
called her and said, no, I'm not doing good. The Lord's doing
good for me. But we say things like that.
I'm good. That came to our Lord in the
next story. Good masters. Hold on. Why are
you calling me good? That's nothing to do with God.
That's just our terminology. I'm good. No good. They trust in their
works, not Christ's work. Faith means believe, trust, confidence. And faith is in God. Faith is in Christ. That's what
this is. Not in yourself. Believe in yourself. The only thing you need to believe
about yourself is you're rotten. You're no good. All right? And look at verse 11. The Pharisees
stood, and the other was a publican. The publican was despised. They were bad people. They sold
themselves, they sold their soul, and they'd sell their mother
for money. They were tax collectors, but they extorted people. And
that's why this Pharisee said, I don't extort people like this
publican. Well, the Pharisee stood and
prayed thus with himself. Meaning, he loved to hear himself
pray. And he wanted other people to
hear him pray. And in that a lot of people that look at Matthew
chapter 6 with Matthew 6. What does our Lord say about
praying? He said, don't be like the hypocrite. Don't be like
the Pharisee. Don't be like them. And every
time the Lord said Pharisee, he said hypocrite, didn't he?
What's a hypocrite? Well, it's an actor. It's an
actor, and that means someone's playing a part, someone who's
always conscious. They're in the public eye, and
so they're putting on an act. They're putting on a front. It's
a facade. It's fake. It's phony. It's not what they really are.
They're acting a part. God's people aren't hypocrites.
We do hypocritical things, but they're not hypocrites. They're
real. They're true. God has made them to see themselves for what
they are. And that's what repentance is.
Well, Matthew 6, verse 1, take heed that you do not your alms
or any religious whatever to be seen of reformed men, to be
seen of them. He said you beware. You be very
conscious of people watching you that you're not doing it
for that reason. Look at verse 5. When thou prayest,
thou shalt not be. The Lord says, thou shalt not.
Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. They love to pray standing
in the synagogue, the corner of the street, that they may
be seen of men. Apparently that's their reward. That's their reward. Why do we
pray? We pray to be heard by God, not
seen of men. And our Lord literally said,
don't do that. Verse 6, when thou pray it, when
thou pray it, enter into thy closet. And when thou hast shut
thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret. And verse
7, don't use vain repetition. You know, Catholics just, Hail
Mary, Mother of God, and so on and so forth. I heard her much
speak. And, uh, when, when thou prayest,
do it in private. You're not praying to be seen.
You don't, you're not praying so people know you're a Christian.
That's why people pray in the restaurants. It just is now. Can you be not, can you be unconscious
of people around you praying in a public restaurant? I've
done it with people, you know, some people that claim to be
believers and they just wanted to, so keep from offend, okay,
you do it. And there's no way you can be
unconscious of everybody watching you. So what's going through
your mind? They think I'm a Christian. One time, Brother Barnard went
to breakfast with a bunch of men. He was holding a meeting
in some big Southern Baptist church right before it split,
right before he split it. But he went to breakfast with
them, and all right, they ordered their ham and eggs or what all
that, and Brother Barnard just dove in and started eating. And I said, Brother Barnard,
aren't you going to pray? He said, how do you know I didn't? How do you know I didn't? That's true prayer from the heart. You can pray with your eyes wide
open walking down the street. We need to. He said, beware, take heed, don't
do it to be seen. This Pharisee prayed thus with
himself. He loved to hear himself pray
and he said, God, Our Lord one time said this,
well did Isaiah the prophet say of this generation, they draw
near to me with their lips when their hearts are far from me. All religion is in the name of
God. All religion is in the name of God, but it's not in God's
name, it's in their own name. Christ said that, didn't he?
He kept saying things. He said, let a man come in his
own name and him you will receive. He said, I am coming in my Father's
name and you despise and reject me. Yeah, not God. He didn't mean
that. He just meant religious. Like
all these signs and bumper stickers, people have all, I love Jesus.
And over here, I love my schnauzer. Well, you couldn't know God,
put his name on your bumper like that, especially alongside the
name of a dog or Dale Earnhardt. God, guns and guts. You don't
know God. Come on. You're just being religious. You just got a fish on your back. What's that for? It proves you're
an idiot. You're exalting yourself and
your religion. Look at me. People put those
on businesses. Why? On a sign, a business sign.
Why? To make money. That's what our
Lord said. They're full of extortion. And
this man talked about not being an extortioner. Religion is the
worst. Read on. I thank thee that I'm
not as other men are. Extortioner. Extort means to
get money out of people through false pretenses. To get money
out of people. To do things for money. Bribery.
Religion's the worst. That's what religion's about,
isn't it? Extort money. Our Lord said they devour widows'
houses. I told you that story years ago.
Oral Roberts, you remember him? The big false prophet, you know. And,
right, he would send out these general letters, you know, general
letters, tight-written, and, you know, they send them to a
list of people's names, and it looks like it's a personal letter.
From all right we send it to this this woman and it said I'm
going to my prayer tower and I have to pray for you this today
and good things are going to happen for you. It's what he
said they send that out the widow's house so they'll send money and
okay well the the the man the woman's son got that letter and
send it back to him so my mother died a month ago. She died a month ago. And you're
a you're a. You know where he is now? Well, they're
extortioners and unjust, unjust. The scripture says, not a just
man on earth that doeth good and saith not that. None righteous,
none just, none. What's that mean? It means upright.
It means pure. It means holy. It means
righteous, just, just. It said, I'm not unjust. God's people know that we're
just sinners. And if we're just in God's sight,
we're justified by Jesus Christ. That's why. One reason. Him. I'm not unjust, he said. I'm
just. I'm righteous. I'm holy. I'm not an adulterer.
Now, our Lord, in his Sermon on the
Mount, says he magnified the law. He said, and everybody heard
him, the Pharisees. And he said, if you look with
lust, you're guilty. It's only the grace of God, the
restraining grace of God has kept you from it. And so all
have, all have sinned. Every one of us have looked with
love. Every one of us have been guilty
of covetous. Every one of us have gotten angry
with somebody. And if we'd lived in the wild west, we'd have shot
them and killed them. So we're guilty. What the law
says, sin says them under the law that every mouth may stop.
But this fellow just boasted. I'm not like this public. Now,
look at what he says he does. Verse 12, I fast twice in a week,
and they like to be seen fasting. Our Lord said, when you fast,
don't let anybody know you're fasting. Wash your face, comb
your hair. Don't look like you're afflicting
yourself. Don't do it. Pharisees do. He said, I fast
twice in a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. My, my. He was under the law.
He was under the law, wasn't he? Oh, he's under the curse.
Those that desire to be under the law are under the curse.
They said that one time. The Pharisees said that one time.
These people that don't know the law are cursed. That's what
they said. That's what they said. These
people that don't know the law are cursed. The Pharisees said, no,
you got it all wrong. Those that know the law don't
want to be under it. Those that don't know the law are under
it, and they're under the curse. Oh, thank God Christ has made
a person. Kept love. All right, enough about that
public, or that person. Enough of him. Tired of him,
aren't you? And here's what he said, I, and
now notice five, he said I five times. I, I, I, I, I, I. Five times. The publican, verse
13. Now, the publican, standing afar
off He's at the back. He came in,
but he stayed in the back. Why? Because he thinks I'm not
worthy to be here. He thought everybody in here
is better than I am. These are just people. These
are good people. These are fine people. I'm just no good. I'm worthless. He stood in the
back and he thought, I'm glad to be here, but I don't deserve
to be here. I'm unworthy to be here. And it says he would not lift
up so much as his eyes to heaven. You see, God had already dealt
with this public. God in mercy and grace, kindness,
he had convicted this man of his sin. When the Holy Spirit
comes, Christ said he'll convict of sin, righteousness, judgment. That salvation is to be convicted
of your sin. Like David said, against thee
and thee only. When he said I, all he said was,
I'm guilty. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. I'm a guilty sinner. That's all I am. To be saved
is first to be convicted of sin. Sin is what we are, what makes
us do what we do. Think what we think. Say what
we say. Or don't do what we ought to
do. Conviction of sin and righteousness. That's what our Lord said. He'll
convict of sin and righteousness. What's that? Righteousness. Do
you hear religion talking about righteousness? Do you? Do you
hear anybody today talking about righteousness? When the Son of
Man comes, will anybody be talking about righteousness? There'll
be a few. Because they know. It must be righteous to be accepted. It must be perfect. God is righteous. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness
and hateth iniquity. It shall be perfect to be accepted.
Righteousness. He'll convict you that you don't
have one. And if you had one, you were
in religion, and you worked out your own righteousness, and you
were real pleased with your righteousness, you know, then He showed you
it's filthy rags in God's eye. It's a stench in God's nostril. If righteousness come by the
law, Christ died in vain. That's how serious it is. Why
did Christ come? He didn't come for the righteous.
He came for sinners. He came to be their righteousness. I don't get tired of saying this,
because it's my hope. It gives me comfort. The Lord
has shown me this. It's not just the truth of it,
but I feel it, unrighteous. I feel it. I feel it, my sin. It's ever before me. But thank
God, John, He keeps showing me the blood. He keeps showing me
and telling me, Christ is your righteousness. Christ is your
righteousness. Oh, blessed is the man whom the Lord will not
impute iniquity. Why? Because he made Christ to
be said, that we might be made the righteousness of God. We're going to get to heaven on the righteousness of another.
Don't you love that old story you've heard so many times? You've
heard every story I have to tell. But I'm going to tell it again.
This person, they asked him, I think it was an old preacher,
what was his name? Oh, man. Well, anyway, the old
preacher said he dreamed he went to heaven and they asked him,
what right you got to be here? Before we let you in, what right
you got to come in here? He said, I'm not here on my rights.
I'm here on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He said, come
on in. Come on in. All God's people
know that. Pharisee thought, God, surely
I'm so good that God, I have to be saved. And then a public and a sinner,
what every sinner thinks is surely I'm too bad to be saved. No way
I can be saved. And that's when God comes with
the gospel and tells you, that's who I came for. Not the
righteous. Not the righteous. Sinners. The
Lord Jesus came to God. Sin, righteousness, and judgment.
There's a judgment to faith. You want to stand in the judgment?
Be judged by what you've done? Not done? Anybody? Can anybody? If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquity, who shall stand? You know what it says about us?
We're seated in Christ. Seated. Because when He did it
all, He sat down. We're seated. We're not going
to stand before God to be judged for what we've done. Christ did.
Christ did. And God convicted Christ and
killed Christ for my sins, for the sins of His people. And all
my sins were put away, paid for, Christ was charged with them,
and God punished Him in my stead and your stead if you're a sinner
like that, if you need Him. That's who He died for. He died
for everybody. Who did He die for? Those that
need a substitute. Those that believe, he dies with
the ungodly. Sin, righteousness, and judgment. There's no judgment for God's
people. There is therefore now, right now, no condemnation to
them that are in Christ. Like that ark, in Christ, he
took the wrath. Not one drop is going to follow
that. Oh, this publican, by the grace
of God, he knew that. He was ashamed to look up. He's
still ashamed. He's righteous, but he's just. How can that be?
Because it's God who's just. Right? Not he that commendeth
himself, but whom God commended. And he wouldn't lift up his eyes
to heaven. He didn't want to look anybody in the eye, certainly
not the holy and righteous God. But all he could do was smile
and embrace, smile and embrace. What's he doing? Like, if I get
this out of me, just get this sin out of me, it's in there
and it won't go away. Smote on his breath. And he prayed
a seven-word prayer. You want the perfect prayer?
Seven is the number of perfection. He prayed seven words. And it didn't begin with I. God. God. Ask for mercy. Be merciful. This
is... Do you not find yourself praying
most of the time for one thing? Mercy. Don't you? All the time, just, Lord have
mercy on me. Please have mercy. God, be merciful
to me. I need mercy. I'm guilty. A sinner. Who are you? Nothing but an old
sinner. I'm an old sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my holy name. You know this word
mercy here, and I'm going to close with it, with what our
Lord said. The word mercy here, generally
the word mercy means kindness, it means not sparing someone. But here the word mercy, you'll
look it up, the word merciful means to conciliate or like reconcile,
to bring two parties together that are apart, enemies, to conciliate,
reconcile, bring them back together. It means propitious. The word,
look it up, it's wonderful. I remember hearing my pastor
say that years ago. The word means propitious. Propitious. Pitch, pitch, pitch, pitch. Anybody
know what pitch is? It's covering, like that ark. What he's saying is, Lord, let
the blood be propitiation on the mercy seat for my soul. Let the blood cover my sin. Let me be found in Him. Let the
bud make atonement. Reconciliation at one month.
Don't you love atonement at one month? I'm a far off. I want
to come to God. How? One way. Christ's made an
atonement. Bring us back to God. Oh, let
the blood be propitiation on the mercy seat and cover my sin. Now here's what the Lord said,
verse 14, I tell you, I tell you, this man, this man went
down to his house justified. For what? Just asking for mercy? Yeah. I tell you, who said that? Who is it that justified? Who
shall lay anything in the charge of God's elect? Is God to justify? Christ said, I tell you, He's
justified. Like the woman caught in the
act of adultery. He said, woman, thy sins be forgiven thee. They
said, who can forgive sins but God? Right. This is God. He said, I tell you, this man,
and everyone who is convicted of their sin like this man, and
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord for mercy through
Jesus Christ, He said, I tell you, they'll go to their house
justified. Justified. I had, John, I had
about 16 scriptures to look up about justification. We're justified
freely by the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, huh? Justified
from all things by which we cannot be justified by the law. Justified. I like the old saying, just as
if I'd never seen it. I like that. Some don't like
it. I do. Just as if I'd never seen it.
His sins and iniquity will be softened. He won't be found to
God. Justified. Justified who? How? By Jesus
Christ. That's out. By the Word of God,
who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. There
is therefore now no condemnation. Justified. Therefore being justified
by faith. Look into Christ. We have peace
with God. Reconciled. Conciliated. Brought back to God. Free access. Covered by the blood of Christ.
I tell you. And he said, rather than the
other. The other was condemned, though
outwardly seemingly to be moral and religious and all of that,
he's condemned. And then he ends by saying that
everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased. Everyone that
trusts in themselves shall be condemned. And he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. And that leads into the next
message. Oh, may the Lord convict us, convince us, and give us
faith. Amen.