I'm going to bring you a message
this morning from the Gospel of Luke chapter 18, a message
or a parable which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke in verse 9 of Luke
18. It says, He spoke this parable
unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous
and despised others. It goes on to say, Two men went
up into the temple to pray. I've entitled this, Two Men Went
to Church. Two very different men. Two men
went to church and only one of them was truly a saved person. Now this message, this parable
that is, which the Lord told was shocking and offensive to
religious people of His day, but wonderfully good news to
some, sinners, publicans and harlots, because the gospel is
only good news. The gospel means good news. But
it's only good news to sinners, to guilty people, ashamed people
who are ashamed of their sin. Now, in short, what the Lord
is going to tell us here is that no one is saved by what they
have done or have not done. No one is accepted by God or
goes to heaven because of what they are or are not. But all
are saved one way. All are justified. All are saved
by the sovereign mercy and grace of God. By the righteousness
of Jesus Christ covering them. By the blood of Jesus Christ
paying for their sin. By the power of the Holy Spirit
of God. not by anything they have done
or have not done. And at verse 9 it says that some
trusted in themselves that they were righteous. That is, that
they were morally right, that they did right. that they didn't
do wrong, that they were good people. By whatever standard
they may have judged themselves, they trusted in themselves. They believed that in themselves
they were righteous. Now, there are two types of people,
saved and lost. Two types of people. Those that
trust themselves and those that trust Christ. And only one is
saved. Only one is a child of God. And that is those who trust the
Lord Jesus Christ. And it says these that trusted
in themselves despised others. Let me ask you, do you feel comfortable
around religious people? I don't. I don't feel very comfortable
around most religious people, for I feel like they're looking
down upon me. Oh, I'm religious. I'm devoted,
I believe. I go to church, but I feel like
this second man in this story, I feel like a sinner and nothing
at all. And Jesus Christ is my all in
all. But most religious people make
me feel very uncomfortable because they put on an air of superiority. Well, in verse 10 it says, these
two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee,
the other a publican. Two men went to the temple. Two
men went to church, so to speak. Now from the beginning, The first
two men, Cain and Abel, two brothers, they both came to God. They came
to seemingly to worship God or come to church, so to speak.
And from the beginning, men and women have been coming to religious
services, coming before God, they say. Now, like the two men
in Genesis, Cain and Abel, one came bringing what he had produced,
what he had grown. Cain brought the works of his
hand, the fruit of his own labors to God, thinking that God would
accept him because of all that he had done for God. Look at
what I brought you, and God rejected him. Well, Abel brought what
God provided, a lamb, the blood of a lamb. And it says God received
his offering and accepted Abel because of that offering. Do
you understand what that is? That is nothing less than a believer
on the Lord Jesus Christ that is Abel bringing the blood or
believing in Christ as his substitute. Do you understand that? Well,
Cain got mad at his brother. Cain got mad at God, really,
for not accepting, for rejecting what he had done. And he killed
his brother. Well, men and women have been
coming to God one of two ways from the beginning, either by
their righteousness, their works, what they have done or not done,
believing that God will accept them because of what they are
and what they've done. And then there are those whom
God accepts in the Beloved, Ephesians 1 said. They come no other way
but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their righteousness, as their
substitute. Well, these two men, one was
a Pharisee, one was a publican. If you ask anybody in those days,
they would say Pharisees are good people. Publicans are bad
people. Pharisees are great men. Publicans
are little men. Pharisees are religious men.
A publican, he's a heathen man. A Pharisee, everyone thought,
was a great person. They were highly esteemed by
others. Publicans were looked down upon, despised by others.
Pharisees, everybody said, are good people. Publicans are bad
people. Pharisees are moral people, moral
men and women. Oh, publicans, they're sinners.
Pharisees, well, they're devout, they're pious, they're religious.
But a publican, he ain't nothing but a sinner, nothing but a sinner. But you know what? When this
story is over, the Lord says the publican was justified, accepted
by God, went to heaven. And the Pharisee, the one that
everybody thought was such a good, moral, great, fine man, went
to hell. That's shocking, isn't it? Well,
I'm here to tell you. I'm here to tell you. that good
people, or that is, those who think they're good, go to hell. And bad people, sinners, those
who think they're worthless and need mercy from God, they all
go to heaven. Now that's shocking, isn't it?
It shocked the Pharisees of that day. I hope it shocked somebody.
I hope the Lord will open your heart to show you what you really
are before God, because God doesn't see as man sees. God's not looking
at what you do or listening to what you say. He's looking on
the heart. Well, the Pharisee, it says,
he stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that
I'm not as other men, not an extortioner, not unjust, not
an adulterer, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the
week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
God, here I am. Aren't you happy to see me? I
thank you, and I'm not like other people. I thank you." He prayed
with himself, and that's what Pharisees, religious people,
like to do. They like to hear themselves
pray. Our Lord said, He plainly said to His people, He warned
them, He said, when you pray, don't be like hypocrites, so
that is, actors, those playing a part. They love to pray standing
in the synagogues and in the corners of the street that they
may be seen of men. He went on to say, all they do
is to be seen of men. Do you see it all around you?
People praying in restaurants and signs on their bumper stickers
and on their shirts and this and that and the other. Why?
Because they want to be seen. They want to be known. Not trying
to make God known, but themselves known. Look at me. I'm a Christian. Our Lord plainly said, don't
do that, but pray to your Father which is in secret. That's the
one you want to hear you praying, not men. Our Lord said, don't
be like them. Well, this Pharisee said, I thank
you. I thank you that I am not like other men. Now, there's
a word that's very Prominent in his prayer a short word and
is the word I Five times he said I think they I am NOT Like other
men. I don't do this. I don't do that. I do this I fast right I give
tithes of all that I possess Let me ask you, are you saved?
If you say yes, let me ask you why. Why do you think you're
saved? What's your answer? If you say,
I accepted Jesus, then I'm here to tell you, you're not accepted. If you think you're accepted
by God because of something you did, because of your free will,
because of your choice, because you let Jesus into your heart,
you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't know yourself. Are you saved? You say, yes,
I was baptized. Well, I'm here to tell you that
you're not saved after all. If you think you're saved because
you were baptized, you're lost. Some say, I do not do this or
that. I don't drink. I don't smoke.
I don't run around. I don't watch TV. I read my Bible. I go to church. I witness. I,
I, I, I. If that's your hope of heaven,
of salvation, you're lost. You're not justified. You're
condemned by God because you are self-righteous. You think
you're righteous because of what you have done or have not done.
Well, now here is the prayer of the publican. Seven words. The publican standing afar off. That is, he felt too guilty,
too ashamed to come to church. And yet he had to come. He came
to the temple. He needed something. What did
he need? One thing. Mercy. The publican, standing
afar off, wouldn't lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast. He kept beating on his chest."
Why? Because out of the heart are the issues of life. Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts and adulteries and fornication and all of that. The Lord really
shocked the Pharisees one day and the common people. He said,
listen to me. He says, nothing going into your
mouth can defile you. It's not what goes into you that
defiles you, it's what's already in there. And this publican found
that out by the grace of God, by the mercy of God, by the Holy
Spirit of God, convicted him of sin, not things that he did
so much as what he was. What he is, like Paul said, O
wretched man that I am, that makes me do what I do. And he
smote on his bread. It's those who knows the plague
of their heart, like Solomon said in his prayer about the
temple. And he smote this publican, smote
on his chest, on his breast, saying seven words, God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. That's all he said. I need mercy. God, you see, salvation is of
the Lord. It's His prerogatives, His will,
His choice, His work, His righteousness. It's all up to Him. So a sinner
knows that. There's nothing they can do.
So they call on God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for
He is God. And they say one thing, I need
mercy. Mercy. God be merciful to me. Mercy means not getting what
you deserve. Grace means getting what you
don't deserve. Getting what you didn't earn. Sovereign grace. And you know
what Christ said? I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other. Because he that
exalteth himself shall be obeyed, and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. What about you? Do you need mercy? Oh, I pray, I hope that God will
show you yourself and cause you to call on Him for mercy in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.