If you would, turn with me to
Luke 18. Luke 18. Luke 18, and I want to read verses
9 through 14. Very familiar passage, I'm sure. Luke 18, verse 9. 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 Republican. 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 a week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing far
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. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. We see here as Jesus Christ starts
out this parable that he spake to certain. And this certain
is pertaining to people. So it is a certain people. These
certain people had something common that they were doing,
and although it may not have manifested itself outwardly all
the time, it was at least being done inwardly, even if no one
else knew about it. Here in the parable, it was done
both outwardly and inwardly. But Christ knew of it, and he
was speaking to them. What was it they were doing?
They were trusting in themselves. They were convinced in themselves,
that is, they were convinced in themselves that they were
what? Righteous. They trusted in themselves
that because of themselves and the direct context is they trusted
in the things which they did or were or are doing. That that
is what made them righteous. Now in each one of us is this
nature to trust in ourselves. So this is certainly speaking
to all of us. Scripture is clear and we've
heard it here several times. There is none righteous, not
one. But this is not all they did.
Their trust in themselves resulted in them despising others whom
they thought were not living up to their standards of doing.
Now this still includes us, because in us there is that nature that
loves ourselves and our doing. It is still there today, but
at one time it ruled us, just as it did this Pharisee. This
is nothing new this morning. In fact, I may sound as if I
am repeating myself, and the fact is I am repeating myself.
I want to continue to repeat the glories of Jesus Christ and
His righteousness, because it's the only righteousness that will
bring me close to God. These two men were going to the
same place. They were both going to the temple,
and they were both going to do the same thing. The one, the
Pharisee, went to pray with himself. He prayed to God, but it was
the God of his own doing. It was the God of his imagination,
the God that told him that he was doing pretty good. He made
an accusation in his prayer to his God. He was not like other
men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or as the publican that had went
up to the temple with him. It does not say that he cried
this out or that he pointed to the man. It just said he prayed
thus with himself. He was secretly saying within
himself that he was not as bad as other men, but in fact he
was better than them is what he was saying. He thought within
himself all the things he had done. I fast twice in a week
and give tithes of all that I possess. I in my flesh have thoughts like
this concerning this passage. That doesn't sound like much
to me, but it isn't about what we are doing or what we are not
doing necessarily. He was bragging to himself that
he does without, twice a week anyway, and that he gives a portion
of all that he had. The problem is he thought this
made him righteous before God. Now this is a parable, but Christ
knew those who were around him who had such thoughts. How many
times have I thought when looking at myself and looking at others,
and I have said in my thoughts, I wouldn't have done that. But
the fact is, I have done that. We have all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But God in his gracious mercy
to us causes us in time to do and feel such as this publican
did. He stood afar off. He dare not
approach God on his own behalf. He did not even as much look
up to heaven, it says. He was not looking at anyone
else, and he dare not attempt to look into God's face. To whom God brings to this place
to know that if they are to look at God, they will surely be consumed. And turn over with me to Exodus
33, if you would. If you're following along, Exodus
33. Exodus 33, 17 through 21, very
familiar. Joe preached a message on this
not too long ago. At least it was on TV not too
long ago. Exodus 33, 17 through 21. And the Lord said unto Moses,
I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast
found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said,
I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And
he said, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man
see me and live. And the Lord said, behold, there
is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. God says, you come to him face
to face, you will die. As Job preached before there
in Exodus, there is a place by God though. If you have found
grace in the sight of God, you will only see him at a place
by him, and that place is a rock. A rock where your face can be
hidden. And by having your face covered,
you will see God there. This publican would not, as Christ
tells us in this parable, he would not even as much as look
up into heaven. He knew what he was by the grace
of God that he found in God's sight. He knew that those such
as this Pharisee who said he was no good was telling the truth. No one needs to lie on me. Just
tell the truth and there's enough there to condemn me before God. There's no good in me that will
recommend me to God. I can only approach Him in another,
a rock. But I will not come proudly,
I will come with my face to the ground, beating my chest. I often have thought back on
my works, even today, sadly, and it causes me to beat on my
chest. I will say, how in the world
could I have done that? I don't have to worry about everyone
else, because there's no one as bad as I am. If I'm the only
one God came to save, He would still have to do all that He
came to do. I am and others are in need of
a Savior. I need someone to propitiate
me. I cannot do it for myself. I
will be consumed unless I find that rock. I need someone to
reconcile me to God. I need someone to show me mercy.
I need someone to atone for my sin. The God this man prayed
to is the one and the only one who could do it. All of that
is in what this man said. Be merciful to me, the sinner. That's what we need is this kind
of mercy from God because we are as bad as anyone else. I
don't know if you all remember, I don't know if it was a joke
or someone actually told this to Henry, but Henry said a woman
came up to him and said, Henry, can you talk to my son? He's
hanging around with the wrong crowd. And Henry told the woman,
I'm sorry, ma'am, but your son is the wrong crowd. I wanted to go over this passage
to show the kind of people that Jesus Christ says are the ones
who will go down to their home justified, their house justified.
The ones who will go down to their house justified are sinners. Sinners made so by God and sinners
made to turn to Him for their help, knowing that it's the only
place that help will come. Jesus Christ the righteous is
who would propitiate this man. And anyone who is a sinner made
so by God. And we went through it last week.
Everyone who has sinned against God, and how many is that? There
is none righteous, not one. All men have sinned against God.
Some by grace are made to see that they are. Everyone who has
sinned against God must die. So what do we need? We need someone
who is just in his judgment and mercy and truth come before his
face. We need someone to die in our
stead. I know I mentioned before that
Jesus Christ did not keep the law for his people, and I still
mean that, but I don't want you to misunderstand me. We surely
do benefit from him keeping the law. Had he not kept the law
of God, then we would have all perished. Not just because he
didn't keep the law, but because he would not have been God. The
same holds true for his dying. Had he not died and had he not
rose again, we would have perished. But more importantly, he would
have not been God if these things did not take place. He kept the
law because he could do nothing else. There's no way he could
have not kept the law every jot and tittle. But we read that
Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God without the law. There
is a righteousness that we need. The righteousness that we are
given that far exceeds keeping the law. Romans 3, turn to Romans
3 with me. Very familiar again, but I'm
going to read it again. Romans 3, verses 19 through 22. Romans 3 verse 19. Now we know
that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law
is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there
is no difference. Jesus Christ was the perfect
spotless Lamb of God. He always did those things that
pleased the Father. We certainly needed one that
would and could keep His holy law. But we needed more than
that. Breaking the law was not something
we might do. It is something we have already
done. We need something more than to
keep the law. We've already heard it from the
parable. We need propitiation. We just read it. By the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified. We are not justified
by the deeds of the law. We are justified by Jesus Christ. Romans 7 verse 4, Wherefore,
my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is
raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto
God. We are, if we are in him, We
are dead to the law. Because when Christ died, we
died with him. And when this took place, we
became dead to the law. And it was for this very purpose
that we might be married to him. Jesus Christ is the righteousness
I need. Because Jesus Christ far exceeds
keeping the law. Back in Romans 3 we read, verses
24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. We are justified not by keeping
his law. We are justified by his grace. And it says there that this grace
would come through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That
redemption came when he paid the sin that his people owe.
Turn with me to Galatians 4. Galatians 4. Galatians 4 verses 4 through
6. And I guess I'm going to have to find
it because I didn't want to. Galatians 4. Galatians 4 and verses 4 through
6. But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God
has sent forth the spirit of his son Job into your hearts,
crying Abba, Father. Is redemption Him keeping the
law for me? It certainly did not come without
the law being kept, but redemption came when He paid the debt, that
is, He died for us. His death is what freed us from
the law. We are dead to the law, and you
know what that means? We are dead to the law. It's
as simple as that. We are not freed from the law
to keep the law. We are dead to the law. We no
longer exist to the law so that it might condemn us because of
what Christ did for us in dying on that tree. But it's not just
dying. The fact that Jesus Christ kept
the law, and it's no surprise that he did because Jesus Christ
is God, The fact that Jesus Christ kept the law meant he was the
spotless Lamb of God. Now in that sense, he did keep
the law for me. But I see it more as he kept
it for himself and his faithfulness to the Father. I have no power
apart from God Almighty and Jesus Christ. I have here recently seen the
power that I have that's been manifested to some, and it may
be manifest to me one day. I mean, it may be manifest to
me to where I can't walk on my own. It may be manifest to me
I can't even remember my name. I have no power apart from God. There's a lot more that can be
said about justification, and I'm not exhausting the subject
today. I do nothing to justify myself
before God. Christ has done all to justify
me before him. Romans 4, 24 and 25 we read,
but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.
It says right there Christ was delivered for our offenses. It
would only take one offense, but this says for our offenses,
so we have many offenses. But it also says he was raised
again for our justification. Had he died only, then we would
have no life, and we would see no life. He had to be raised
again, and he was. The resurrection raised us to
life with him. In him raising to life, we were
acquitted of all charges. Not just acquitted though, in
Christ we are made the very righteousness of God. What am I trying to point out
and drive home is this. We are guilty of breaking God's
law. And that guiltiness requires
that we die. Christ dying in our stead means
the penalty, the punishment due us was paid to him. So what is
the right thing for us to do? Keep God's law? We can't. I don't want to go back there
because going back there means I have to keep the law every
jot and tittle, and I know I can't. Did Christ come and die for us
that we might then begin to keep his law? For by the works of
the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. The scripture does
not say that before Jesus Christ saves us, the works of the law
will not justify us in his sight. And then after he saves us, keeping
his law justifies us. It doesn't say that. Scripture
simply declares that by the deeds of the law that no flesh shall
be justified in his sight The right thing for me to do is to
believe God Believe what he has done God has already justified
us in Jesus Christ the righteous But when we believe him God imputes
his righteousness to us because of the faith of Jesus Christ Back to our text, we read Christ
saying this in verse 14. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other, for every one
that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. This Pharisee was talking about
what he did. Christ says he was not justified
in thinking, he was justified by what he did. But here in this
last verse, Christ said by what this other man did, he was justified. The difference is this. The doing
this other man did, this publican, this sinner, was caused by Jesus
Christ. God brought and he brings those
who are his down to this place. where they know if they do not
have someone to propitiate for them, that is, stand in their
place, they will forever perish. It is the hope of God's people
that they have been right in the sight of God by his dear
son. I read this passage as my text
because I wanted to show the need for redemption. Those whom
Jesus Christ died for at no time began to think that they'd do
anything worthy of the righteousness of God. They come to him begging,
pleading for mercy, propitiation. The word there that Christ in
this parable used where this sinner says, be merciful to me,
the sinner. The word there for merciful is
derived from a word that means cheerful, propitious, or gracious. Then the word itself means to
conciliate, atone for, propitious, merciful, or make reconciliation
for. So this sinner and all those
for whom God Almighty has justified all come to Him with their face
to the ground, not looking at anyone else and how they measure
up to me, but knowing that I do not measure up to the righteousness
of God in and of myself. This sinner cries out, God, the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I beg you, be cheerful toward
me and gracious. Conciliate me. Stop being angry
with me. Atone for my sin against you. Be merciful, dear God, and reconcile
me to yourself. I need it, God, because I am
the sinner. Amen. Thank you for your son, dear
Lord. Cause us to always look to you and to see you, dear Lord.
You are our hope. All these things we ask in Christ's
name, amen.