I want you to turn back this
evening to Luke chapter 18. Of all the evils in this world, the greatest evil, the greatest
sin, The greatest abomination before God is self-righteousness. May God graciously save us from
the deception of self-righteousness. I would not want to stand before
God in the day of judgment and be charged with any sin, But I would rather stand before
the holy God guilty of rape, murder, theft, adultery, incest, or any
other crime, than to stand before God guilty of self-righteousness. Nothing is more abominable, nothing
more damning, nothing more obnoxious to a holy God than self-righteousness. And yet self-righteousness is
the most prevalent evil in the race of Adam. Adam fell in the garden and stitched
together some fig leaves and thought by the works of his hands
he could hide from God. And man's been trying to hide
from God, to cover his sin, to excuse his sin, and to appease
God's anger, God's wrath, and God's law by his own fig leaf
aprons ever since. I hear men frequently in the
pulpit talk about their goodness, and I hear men in the pew talk
about their goodness. Most men don't dare stand up
and talk in language like this. Well, I'm really a good man at
heart, but they still say it. They still do. I recall several
years ago in a Bible conference, I heard a man make a statement,
he said, I thank God that no alcohol or no tobacco
or no drug has ever entered these lips. Well, I'm sure God's impressed. I heard another fellow sitting
in my office desk one time years ago. He said, Well, I thank God
I've never known any woman but my wife. I mean then, I said,
did you ever have opportunity? God, they think, is impressed
by such things. I recall when I was in college,
had been converted long, listened to a man stand to pray. And he
prayed a whole lot like this fellow. we read out here in Luke
18. He said, God, I thank you. I
can hear it now. I was fearful of God's judgment
falling on that whole place. He said, God, I thank you that
you've given me wisdom to live right and to raise my children
well, and you've given me wisdom to avoid this vice and that,
and on and on and on he went. Man by nature is self-righteous,
and God Almighty hates self-righteousness, hates self-righteousness. Our
Lord addressed this parable to men who thought they were righteous.
Look at it, verse 9. He spake this parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised
others." Now, I'm quite sure that describes some of you here. It may describe many of us. They
trusted in themselves that they were righteous. They really thought
they were righteous. Men really do think they're good.
Men really do think they have a claim on God. Men really do
think they have impressed God by their deeds that men applaud. They thought in themselves, trusted
in themselves that they were righteous, and they despised
folks who weren't. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. 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, 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. I tell you that 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." Now this parable describes every
one of us. It describes every last one of
us. Everybody here has come to the house of God to worship. Everybody here has come to the
house of God to sing, to pray, to worship. And we have all come
either as self-righteous Pharisees or as publicans and sinners.
The self-righteous Pharisee, unless God strips him, will perish
in his sin. The publican sinner, God will
show him mercy. That's the way God does things. Now, the purpose of our Lord
in this parable is to show us the folly and the danger of self-righteousness. These men had one thing in common.
There is one point at which the Pharisee and the publican agree.
They both went into the temple to pray. They both set their
faces in the same way. They both walked in the same
path. They both entered the same place of worship. So far as we
can see, there was no difference whatsoever in their outward religious
behavior. I'm reminded of the first two
men who worshiped God, Cain and Abel. There was a mighty gulf
between them. God accepted Abel and rejected
Cain. The difference between these
two men, like Cain and Abel, was a difference of their hearts.
One had a heart full of pride, and God rejected him. The other
had a heart full of shame because of sin, and God accepted him. May God make each of us to know
which we are. Oh Lord, God, expose our pride
and skip it away. Lord God, make us to know our
sin and make us to know the righteousness of God in Christ. Now in this
text, our Lord calls our attention to four great differences between
the Pharisee and the publican. Let me just set them before you
as we go through the text. First, our Lord begins this parable
by pointing out there was a great difference between the character
of these two men. The one was a Pharisee, we are
told, and the other a publican. Now, it would be impossible to
imagine two more strikingly contrasting men in the opinion of the Jewish
nation than the Pharisee and the publican. In the minds of
those ancient Jews, the Pharisee represented the epitome of morality,
the epitome of righteousness, the epitome of orthodoxy. And the publican was looked upon
with more disdain, more disgust, with more content than the harlot
or the drunkard. Publicans represented the debts
and the degradation of sin. Now our Savior tells us that
one of these men was a Pharisee. What does he mean? The Pharisees
were the strict separatists. They were the moral fundamentalists.
They were the orthodox doctrinalists of their time. Their theology
was precise. Their conduct was respectable.
Their behavior was unquestionably moral. These were the most respected
religious leaders of their time. The Pharisees were the most ancient
sect of the Jews. Men placed a great deal of confidence
in and a great deal of authority behind historical background
and historical precedent. Well, the Pharisees were the
oldest sect of the Jewish religion. They had both religious and national
pedigree. They could trace their roots
back to Abraham, both their doctrine and their Family heritage they
could trace back to Abraham. They believed that which Abraham
believed. They were Abraham's sons and
daughters. They walked with Abraham in their
own family pedigree. The Pharisees were precisely
orthodox in their doctrine. They believed in the inspiration
of the scriptures. They believed in the coming of
the Messiah who would be himself God. They believed in the resurrection
of the dead. They even believed in the future
punishment of the wicked and the future reward and bliss of
the righteous. The Pharisees were, like us,
good Calvinists. Yes, sir, they were. Those Pharisees
believed in divine sovereignty. They believed in God's election. They didn't believe anybody was
saved except Jews. They believed everybody else
was reprobate. They believed in limited atonement,
for they believed that the sacrifice was given for Israel and Israel
alone. These Pharisees, by tradition,
insisted upon the doctrine of degrees of reward for men in
heaven, according to their works as well. The Pharisees or a very
strict group of men in their observance of the laws and of
their observance of the traditions of the Jewish church. They prayed
three times a day. Boy, that's impressive, isn't
it? I'm not talking about they said
grace at the table for breakfast, lunch, and supper. I'm talking
about they took time to pray three times every day. Three
times a day. They fasted twice in every week. Every Monday and every Thursday
were fast days for the Pharisees. They gave tithes of everything
they possessed. Were there 168 hours in a week? They gave a 16-hour tithe to
the Lord. Did they gather ten bushels of
corn? They gave one bushel to the cause
of the temple. Did they have a hundred dollars?
They gave ten to the church. They were tithers of everything
they possessed. They tithed according to the
law of Moses and the tradition of the fathers. These Pharisees
strictly observed the ceremonies of the law, the sacrifices, the
circumcision, the reading of the law, all of those things
they kept. And they were meticulous, very
meticulous in their observance of the Sabbath day. When they
said they were Sabbatarians, they meant they were Sabbatarians.
When it came Saturday, bud, they didn't do anything. When it came
to be Saturday from midnight, Saturday night until the setting
of the sun or Friday night to the setting of the sun on Saturday,
they did not work. They didn't go anywhere. They
didn't do anything except read the law and study the law and
declare the law. The Pharisees were meticulously
religious men. But, and this is a big, big word,
but. Everything the Pharisee did,
he did to be seen of men. Everything he did was to impress
men. Everything. They stood in the
street corners and made long prayers. They'd get at the corner
of Main Street and Fourth Street so that everybody coming in this
direction, everybody coming in that direction, everybody coming
in this direction, and everybody coming in this direction could
see them praying. And as they passed by and the
Pharisee made his long prayer, everybody said, boy, he's religious. He's devoted. Oh, I don't necessarily
agree with what he's doing, but he's a religious man. He's devoted
to his religion. The Pharisees would pray so as
to be seen of men. When they'd come in the congregation
of the Lord, they'd kneel down on one knee, you know, because
that seems so pious. We see it all the time. Folks
act religious. They act religious. The Pharisees,
we are told by our Lord, made broad their phylacteries and
enlarged the borders of their garments. That's in Matthew 23,
5. What our Lord is telling us is this. The Pharisees carried
the law with them everywhere they went at all times. They
rolled up little animal skins with the law and tied it to their
robes and they tied it to their heads and they carried it in
their hands. They sewed pieces of parchment
with the Scriptures written out on their robes and on their long
flowing robes they'd have written, Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. So that as they walked the streets,
men saw those phylacteries on their heads, around their necks,
around their wrists. They saw the parchment written
on their robes and men looked at them and said, They love the
Lord. They love the Word of God. These
Pharisees, everywhere they went, were seen by men as folks who
were devoted to religion, devoted to God, devoted to the Scriptures. If they were living today, I'll
tell you the kind of folks they'd be. They'd carry their Bibles
with them everywhere. Their sons and daughters would
carry their Bibles with them to school, lay them on top of
all their books. They'd put bumper stickers on
their cars saying, Jesus saves. Honk if you love Jesus. Smile,
God loves you. They'd go through the parks in
the city and they'd write on the stones, Jesus saves. Prepare
to meet the Lord. They made everybody know they
were religious. When these men gave alms to the
beggar, they'd see a beggar on the street and if nobody was
around, they'd walk on by. But then they'd see a beggar
on the street and they'd see some folks around the corner, a big crowd. They'd blow a trumpet and they'd
reach in their purses and they'd pull out their money and lay
it in the beggar's hand. Oh, I didn't mean for you to
see that. You know, why? You know, I do things like that
all the time, but I don't like folks to know what I'm doing.
Lying through their teeth, acting religious, acting religious. They always washed their hands
publicly before eating. They sat down in the restaurant
and they asked for a finger bowl to wash their fingers with, not
because they wanted to get the dirt off their hands they didn't
have any dirt to start with. But they wanted everybody to
know they were clean, righteous, living, religious folks. So that
when our Lord's disciples and John the Baptist's disciples
sat down and got him a piece of chicken and picked it up and
started, did you see those families? They didn't wash their hands. 20th century application. The
Pharisee sits down at the dinner table out at Western Sisley and
he says, or he sits down and he says, he ain't praying. He's scared
to death the waitress is going to pour coffee down his back,
but he's acting religious. He's acting religious. Now come
on, be honest with me. Come on, be honest with me. I
used to try it. I used to go to restaurants, and I'd say grace
at the table. I used to try to pray, but I
never prayed at one. Did you, Lindsay? Never. Not
one time. Never. I always did it so that
men would look at me, and they would say concerning me, he loves
Christ. Always. Always. God, forgive
me. That's the way it is. Say, well,
we've got to keep up a good testimony. Huh? What did you say? You mean to tell me that we've
got to tell men by something we do, by some action of ours,
by some outward work, by some outward deed? By those things
we have to stand up and say, look at me, I love Jesus? Not
if you live by faith, you don't. Not if you live by loving Christ,
you don't. Not if you live in commitment
to Christ, you don't. People who know you, know you
love him if you do. People who know you, know you
don't love him if you don't. But the Pharisees were religious
fellows. They were devoted moralists,
devoted righteous religious men. I fear there are many today just
like them. very careful to keep up the outward
duties of religion so that they may either gain or keep the respect
of men. They suppose that by their religious
works they make God their debtor. They despise all others thinking
themselves holier than other men who do not observe their
traditions. They say, stand by thyself, come
not near to me for I'm holier than thou. Some fellow told a
friend of mine a while back, Boy, I'd like to have Don down
to preach for me, but, you know, I heard he smokes a pipe. He
said, well, he's busy anyhow. He's busy anyhow. You mean to
tell me that I've got to act like you act or I'm not acceptable
before God Almighty? Since when did you get such power? I recognize we have to be careful. I want to be very careful not
to offend a weak brother and cause a weak brother to stumble.
But I make it a deliberate point. I make it a deliberate effort
to offend the self-righteous presumptions of self-righteous
men. I will not bow to the traditions
of men. And I won't do it with good reason.
Merle, I want to do everything I can to make men see that salvation
is not in what they do. It's by the grace of Almighty
God and only by his grace. I don't customarily run around
town with shorts. I'm talking about Bermuda shorts. But if somebody came along and
told me I dare not do it, you might see me here Sunday morning
with a Bermuda short outfit preaching it. I don't customarily go out and
wash and wax my car on Sunday, but if some self-righteous Pharisee
says to me, you can't do that on Sunday, we'll see. We'll see. We dare not bring our one problem
with this religious world. We have coddled up to folks and
we've bent over to them and we've made them think that their traditions
and their customs and their laws are okay and we'll abide by them.
They're not okay. It's self-righteousness. And
we'll break it just like our Lord did the traditions of the
Pharisees. When our Lord went through the
field on the Sabbath day and his disciples picked corn, He
knew what he was doing. He knew those Pharisees were
getting mad. Oh, they was getting mad. Do you see what Peter's doing?
Well, yeah. He's walking through the field,
rubbing some corn in his hand, trying to put a little something
in his belly. But it's the Sabbath day. I can picture our Lord He's
a lot more patient than I am, but I expect even he was saying
to himself, I know what day it is. I know what Peter's doing. Don't you know that the Sabbath
was made for man, not man for the Sabbath? And what he was
doing is by the example of himself and his followers, his disciples,
he was saying, man, there's something this Sabbath day points to, and
I am he. Quit trying to find acceptance
with God by what you do. Find acceptance with God by what
I am and what I do. This action of the Pharisee is
far different from the believer. Those who trust Christ for righteousness
don't despise others and they don't look upon themselves as
holier than others. They feel that they are in themselves
poor, miserable, and guilty. They freely admit that others
are much better than they and despise no one. Somebody said,
well, I live just as good a life as those folks down at Grace
Baptist Church. You might even live better. You might even live
better. That hasn't got a thing on earth
to do with it. The point is, do you know the living God? Do
you trust Christ the Lord? Do you trust him? Listen to the testimony of a
former Pharisee. He said, we are the circumcision.
We are the true people of God, which worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
We have nothing in our flesh that gives us hope before God.
Nothing. Nothing. Even among God's true
people, there is a dreadful tendency to self-righteousness. There's
a whole lot of Pharisee in every one of us. A whole lot of it. I'm afraid most of our public
praying is nothing but self-righteousness. I'd like one time, one time in
my life, to stand before this congregation and pray. Pray. Without any consideration
of what you hear of what you think about what I'm saying.
Wouldn't you? I'd like one time in my life
to come and open the Word of God and preach the Word of God
without any consideration of whether or not it meets with
anyone's approval. I'd like one time to do that.
I fear that our religious works principally are works of self-righteousness. works performed either out of
fear, or out of a desire for reward, or out of a sense of
duty, or out of a desire to keep up religious respectability. We make self-righteousness the
grounds for much of our assurance. When we've been acting like we
think we ought to have acted, then we have assurance. And when
we've acted contrary to that, we don't have any assurance.
What's the basis of your assurance? We sang a moment ago, blessed
assurance, Jesus is mine. Is Christ your assurance or is
your assurance what you do and how you act and how you behave?
Do you trust yourself or do you trust the Son of God? Is there not a great deal of
self-righteousness involved in much of our morality? Oh, we dare not make ourselves
of the number. or compare ourselves with some
that commend themselves by themselves, but they measuring themselves
by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise
but fools." All of our hurt feelings are
nothing but pride and self-righteousness. It's all it is. All it is. Did you know Bobby Estes hadn't
spoken to me in two weeks? I wonder what I've done to upset
him, offend him. Did you know he had Merle down
for dinner and didn't invite me? That's so stupid. I mean, that's worse than pride
and self-righteousness. That's pride and self-righteousness
along with stupidity. That's the way kids act. The
way kids act. And we talk about ourselves being
surrendered to Christ, seeking only the glory of Christ. carry
our feelings around on our shoulders like Robert Conrad with an ever-ready
battery saying, I dare you to knock it off. All gossip, all
slander, all malice, all persecution arises from nothing but self-righteousness. Love covers sin. Self-righteousness exposes sin. Our Lord said, take heed and
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. The other man in this parable
was a publican. Now to the mind of the Jew, nothing
was more offensive. Nothing was more repugnant. Nothing
was more despicable. Nothing was more aggravating,
more vile, more loathsome than a publican. Publicans were Jews
who collected taxes for the Romans. And the Jews looked upon them
as traitors. The publicans usually exacted much more than was due
from their countrymen so as to amass great wealth for themselves.
Both the Romans and the Jews looked upon the publicans as
disgraceful and contemptible men. The Jews could make no greater
vile an accusation against our Lord than to say he eats with
publicans and sinners. when they wanted to really put
him down, when they wanted to really expose the corruption
they thought was in him, they said, he calls himself the son
of God and he eats with publicans. You see then, our Lord could
not have chosen two examples more unlike each other than the
Pharisee and the publican. The one was greatly admired and
respected by his fellow men. The other was despised and hated
and regarded with contempt. But the one that men approved
of, God despised. And the man that men despised,
God received. It's always that way. It's always
that way. Then secondly, there was a great
difference in the behavior of these two men when they came
to worship in the house of God. Again, I remind you that outwardly
there was little difference. Both came to the temple, both
prayed, both called upon God. But look at the proud Pharisee.
Verse 11, 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
they say, the public. The Pharisee went up as close
as he could get to the holy place, and he stood in some conspicuous
place, straightened all the wrinkles out of his robe, made sure he
had no dust on it. And he prayed thus with himself. He stood in a fixed former posture. He stood apart from the other
worshipers lest he should defile himself. He stood with great
boldness and confidence as though God Almighty were his debtor.
He stood and prayed with himself. And it was altogether a prayer
centered in himself. He sought nothing but his own
glory. He stood before God being confident
of his own righteousness. He stood by himself having no
regard for and no desire for Christ the mediator. And though
he addressed God, he simply praised his own self. We see nothing
of humility in this proud Pharisee. He had no inclination even to
bow his head before his creator, much less bow his heart. But
now, this 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. There is indeed a great difference
in this man's behavior. This publican stood afar off
in the outer court. as one who felt himself unworthy
to enter into the presence of God, whose name is holy and reverend. This was the testimony of the
sense he had of his own state and condition before God. He
was an unworthy sinner far off from God, deserving to be separated
from God forever. This was a testimony of his reverence
for God. This publican was not even willing
to look up toward heaven. J.C. Ryle said he felt the remembrance
of his sins so grievous and the burden of them so intolerable
that like a child who had offended his father, he dared not look
his Almighty Creator in the face. The guilt of his sins lay heavily
upon him, so much so that he couldn't look up toward heaven.
A sense of his sinfulness made him blush with shame before God.
Sorrow for sin caused his heart to be broken as he bowed down
before God. The publican was possessed with
a fear of divine judgment, and this poor sinner felt himself
altogether unworthy of God's mercy and favor. In sorrow, in
self-abasement, in godly fear, this publican smote upon his
breast. He was so overcome by his sinfulness,
he couldn't restrain his emotions. He smote upon his breast, pointing
the finger to his own heart as the fountain of sin. He beat
upon his breast, expressing his sorrow for his sin, his repentance
of sin. He beat upon his breast, showing
his abhorrence of himself. Like Job, as he knelt before
God and he beat upon his breast, he said, I abhor myself. Some of you, might be shocked
at such a thing. Oh, I would gladly sit down and
listen to some poor sinner cry, God be merciful to me. God be
merciful to me. Thirdly, our Lord shows us a
marked difference in the prayers of these two men. Look again
at the Pharisee first. in his pretentious prayer. Can't
hardly call it a prayer. He does address himself to God.
He does acknowledge God's right to some gratitude for his goodness. But this proud hypocrite was
wrong in everything he said. He stood and prayed thus with
himself. God, I thank thee that I'm not
as other men are. A lot of things are obviously
missing. There was no confession of sin. There was no expression
or desire for mercy, for grace, or for atonement. This Pharisee
dared approach God without any word of praise to him. This Pharisee
dared approach God without any expression of faith in a blood
atonement, without any expression of faith in a blood sacrifice.
There's no expression for any need of Christ, the mediator
to stand between he and God. For this man thought himself
worthy to stand before God on his own merit. It would be all
right if Christ would like to be a gentleman and introduce
me to his Father, but I don't really need it. After all, look
what I have done. This Pharisee was perfectly self-satisfied. He felt himself to be self-sufficient. He recites complacently what
he is not, and he states most proudly what he thinks he is.
He gave thanks to God, but only in order to exalt himself, and
he proudly denies being like other men. Let me tell you something. Does it offend you for me to
tell you, every man in this place, that you're just like every other
man? Every man. You read your history books and
you read about Adolf Hitler and the hideous crimes he committed
against humanity. Adolf Hitler acted like a Sunday
school teacher compared to what goes on in your heart. Now, I'm
telling you the truth, that not any evil any man's ever committed
or ever can commit that doesn't reside in your heart and mine
by nature. Now that's the fact of Scripture.
That's what the book teaches. And that's what, if you're honest,
you know goes on in your heart. How would you like for your wife
to know everything you think? How would you like for your children
to know everything that goes on in your mind? And then we stand and talk
about how good we are. You ladies, I wouldn't offend
you for the world, but if you're offended by this, it's because
you don't know the gospel. and you don't know yourself and
you don't yet know God, then not a bit of difference between
you and the lowest harlot that ever walked the street by nature,
not one bit of difference, not one bit of difference. Out of
our hearts, these agitated cesspools of iniquity, out of our hearts,
Proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, murders, blasphemies, fornications,
and all such things. Why do men behave like they do? Because they've got hearts just
like you and me. And the only difference is God's
restrained you. God's kept you from yourself
thus far. That's all the difference it
makes. And then pop their suspenders and act like there's something
We're nothing but vile, obnoxious, trash, maggots on a dung heap,
worth nothing, good for nothing, fit for nothing. Only way under
the sun we can be serviceable to God Almighty is for Him to
damn us and show His power or else stretch out the arm of His
grace and lift us up. Now look at this publican. He stood afar off. He wouldn't
lift up his head, his eyes to heaven. He smote upon his breast
and said, God, be merciful. I told you this morning what
it means. He said, Lord God, I am the chiefest of sinners.
I am the sinner deserving of your wrath. I'm a sinner by birth,
I'm a sinner at heart, I'm a sinner by nature, I'm a sinner in my
beads. All that I am is sin and I, if I should be shut out from
God's presence and God's mercy and God's favor forever, if I
should be damned, if I should forever be cast into hell, I
have no claim to holiness. I'm a sinner. But God, be propitious. His eye was fixed upon the mercy
seat, Christ Jesus. His eye was fixed upon that typical
sacrifice in the Old Testament, but more than that, fixed upon
the true sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ And he said, God,
through the blood of Christ, through the death of Christ,
through the sin atoning, righteous sacrifice of the Son of God,
be merciful to me. And the Lord God is merciful
to me. And my friend, that's the only
way you can obtain mercy. That's it. That's it. You cannot
obtain mercy except through Christ. You cannot obtain mercy except
as you take your place at the foot of the cross as a wiggling,
stinking maggot of Adam's fallen race. Now, I'm telling you, so
long as you imagine that you've got one good thing to offer God,
thought, word, or deed, so long as you imagine you've got one
good Just one little fig leaf sewn on right down here at the
bottom of your garment, something of your own making by which you
hope to find acceptance with God, you will not be accepted
of God. You have to stand before Him
in the nakedness of your loathsome shame, in the nakedness of your
sinnerhood. You're going to have to do it
or you'll never find mercy. You'll never find mercy. Christ came to seek and save
the lost. That's the only folks he saves.
Lost men. Yeah, what do you mean lost? There's a fella out on a ship. Hurricane comes up and the ship
sinks. But he's not lost yet. He's not
lost yet. Because he's still got a life
raft. He's out floating for days in
the ocean in the hot sun. He doesn't know where he is,
but he's not lost yet because he's still in that life raft
and he's still got a little bit of food and a little bit of water. He's paddling on with his oars.
They don't know where he's going, but he's not lost yet because
he's still got his oar and he's paddling on. A little while later,
he loses his food. and water runs out, and he lost
his oar, and his life raft got punctured, the air's gone, but
he's still not lost. He swam over and got hold of
a piece of driftwood, holding on to it. Finally, the driftwood's gone.
He's still not lost, because he can dog paddle a little bit,
and he tries to swim a little It goes on for a while, but he's
still not lost. He's still got a little strength
left in his arms, a little strength left in his feet. At last his
legs won't move, his arms will not move, and there's no hope,
there's no hope, no hope. He's done going down twice, he's
going down for the third time, now he's lost. Now he's lost. And God in mercy saves sinners. Going down for the third time
with nothing to them, he casts out the gospel net and draws
the men. As long as you suppose you've
got anything by which to commend yourself to God, as long as you
suppose you've got any credibility before God Almighty, As long
as you suppose there's one thing you can do to make a difference
between you and other men, you haven't yet come to be lost.
You haven't yet been stripped. You haven't yet been abased.
You haven't yet found a need of mercy. One more thing. Our Lord shows us a solemn difference
in the end of the Pharisee and the Publican. He says in verse
14, 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.
The Pharisee did what he did to be seen of men. Men approved
of him, and men applauded him, and men bragged on him. And he
had his reward. He had his reward. But God rejected
him. The publican confessed his sin
and sought righteousness and mercy in Christ. And he went
away justified. The proud Pharisee, though he
was righteous in his own eyes, was rejected by God. The poor
publican, though he was obnoxious in his own eyes, was justified
by God. And our Lord makes a general
application of the whole parable. He tells us what the story is
all about. He said everybody who exalts himself in self-righteousness,
everybody who lifts himself up, everybody who pats his own back
and congratulates himself, everybody who thinks he's shall be abased by God." Everybody. And he tells us that all who
humble themselves, all who acknowledge their nothingness,
who acknowledge their corruption, who acknowledge their sin, who
acknowledge their guilt, all who fall down in the dust, God will lift up by His grace.
God will exalt. Take your place in the dust before
the throne of Christ the Lord, and He'll lift you up by His
grace. But if you refuse to take your place in the dust, he's
going to put you in the dust beneath his feet in the day of
judgment. Blessed is the man that falls
on this stone, for he shall be broken. But woe to that man upon
whom this stone shall fall, for he will grind him to powder.
Amen. Graciously apply your word to
our hearts. Strip us of our pride and our
self-righteousness, our arrogance. Lord God, make us to know our
nothingness, our sinfulness. And we ask that you might graciously
cause these sinful hearts of ours to have the blessed confidence,
delight, and assurance of the complete pardon of sin
through Jesus Christ our Lord. I ask for Christ's sake that
you will this night bring sinners to bow before your son. Call
sinners to take their place in the dust And Lord God, strip
away the facade of self-righteousness. Make us to know in ourselves
we're nothing. No good thing resides in this
flesh. We ask our Father that you might
make us men and women in Christ to walk before you by trusting
his blood and his righteousness. Strip us of our own fig leaves
of self-righteousness and keep us from making any refuge, any
covering for ourselves, but to cling only to the covering of
Christ's perfect righteousness. For Christ's sake, I pray.