Now then, get your Bible and
open it to Luke 18, the 18th chapter of Luke. I'm going to
speak to you today on this subject, the most deadly sin of all sins. Now, that ought to be interesting,
and I know what I'm talking about. There's no guesswork or speculation
involved at all in this message. The most deadly sin of all. the
most deadly, soul-destroying, destructive sin of all. Now let
me read a familiar scripture. Are you familiar with this? It's
found in Luke 18 beginning with verse 9. Now listen carefully.
And the Lord Jesus spake this parable unto certain who trusted
in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. He said, two men went up to the
temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee, the religious man,
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee that I'm not
as other men are. They are extortioners, they're
unjust, they're adulterers, And I'm not like them. And I'm not
even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, the other man,
standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to
heaven, but he smote upon his breast, saying, be merciful to me, the sinner."
I'll tell you, the Lord Jesus continued, this publican who
prayed, God be merciful to me, the sinner, went down to his
house justified, saved, mind you, pardoned, clear of sin,
justified before God rather than the other. but not the Pharisee. For everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
Now, why don't you just hold your Bible there if you have
it open, and let's look back at this verse 9 again now. If
words can mean anything at all, it's quite evident to whom the
Lord is speaking. In fact, it tells us the people
to whom he spake this parable. It says plainly there, can you
read these words? He spake this parable to those
who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, that they
were holy, that they were good. They were not sinners like others. They had no need of righteousness.
They were good people. moral people, religious people,
people who served God, holy people. That's what they said. They justified
themselves. This man who represented them,
in fact, our Lord speaking this parable to these who justified
themselves, who felt that they needed no righteousness, He gives
them their champion. He says, here's one like you.
He went to the temple and justified himself. He said, I'm not like
other men. I'm not like other men." Other people are sinners,
extortioners, mean, evil, unjust people, adulterers. Well, I'm
not like them. And they justify themselves before
God. Listen to what their champion
said here. He said, I thank God I'm not like other people. I
thank God I'm not like other people. He brings God into his
self-righteous conspiracy, and then he starts comparing himself
with others. And here's how he arrived at
this morality and self-righteousness and holiness. He arrived at it
by comparing himself, not with God, but with the fellow man. He said, I'm not like that publican. I'm not like that publican. Paul
said something about comparing ourselves with ourselves. He
said, that's not wise. And then our Lord said something
about, you're they who justify yourselves before men. But God
looks at your heart, and that which is highly esteemed among
your fellow man is an abomination to God Almighty. Tell you something
else about these people. They justify themselves, even
justify themselves before God, comparing themselves with themselves,
and they despise others whom they think are not as good as
they are. Now, you see this. around you all the time, in the
church to which you go. You've never met a moral, self-righteous,
so-called holy person who was not critical, supercritical,
of the lifestyle, conduct, and conversation of other people.
All self-righteous, holier-than-thou, moral people enjoy pointing out
the weaknesses of others. They delight in finding fault. They delight in gossip. No man
is ever quick to criticize, judge, or condemn another unless he
has a very high opinion of himself. That's the pinnacle from which
he sits in judgment. That's the high and lofty place
from which he looks down on others. He's holier than thou. And our
Lord spake this parable to those people. He said He spake this
parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were
righteous. They were self-righteous. They
trusted in their works, they trusted in themselves, they trusted
in their religion, and they despised others. And I'm here to tell
you, my friend, I'm here to tell you, there's no sin, I don't
care what it is, there's no sin so deadly, so dangerous, so soul-destroying
as self-righteousness. Did you know that? And I'll tell
you why. There are three or four reasons.
Number one, the Word of God plainly says there's none righteous,
no, not one. Then why do people claim to be
righteous? Because they don't believe God's
Word. God's Word plainly says there's none good, no, not one.
Not one. The Scripture in Psalm 14 says
this, said, The Lord God looked down from heaven to see if there
was any that did do good. And he said, There's none good.
They're all gone out of the way. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. Then why do we keep talking about
how good people are, how good our children are, and how good
our mothers are, and how good our fathers are, and how good
our preachers are, how good we are? There's none good. God good. good in God's sight,
none good but God. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Isn't that what Scripture says?
Oh, you. Well, I'm not a sinner. Then what are you? In this thing
of goodness, there's only God and sinners. Are you God? In
this thing of righteousness, there's nothing but God and unrighteousness. Anything that's not God is unrighteous. Only God is good. Only God is
holy. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. And yet, you just can't shake
them loose from it. Men look to their outward deeds,
their outward works, their outward morality, their outward veneer
of religion, and they call themselves good. They even claim to have
a holiness. They even, some denominations
call themselves the holiness people. Now you think about that.
That's what these old Israelites did over in Romans 10. Listen
to it. Paul said, My heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. I bear them record. They have a zeal of God, but
it's not according to knowledge, for they're ignorant of God's
righteousness, and they're going about to establish a righteousness
of their own. not knowing that Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
So this thing of self-righteousness, I'll tell you this, I'd much
rather be charged before God with murder than self-righteousness. God has saved some murderers.
God has forgiven that sin many times over, but no self-righteous
man has ever entered the kingdom of heaven. and never will. Christ
has got to be our righteousness. That's the robe of righteousness.
That's the wedding garment. To enter heaven, one must be
as good as God, and there's only one place to be as good as God,
and that's in Christ. To enter glory, a man's got to
have a holiness that's as holy as God. And there's only one
place for that holiness to be found. It's not at an altar.
It's not at a law. It's not from a church standard.
It's not from rules. declared from the pulpit, it's
in Christ Jesus. He is our sanctification and
our righteousness and our holiness. And He perfectly worked it out
by obeying the law in the flesh as a man and imputed to those
who believe that perfect righteousness. And I'll tell you this, listen
to me. There's no sin so deadly and
so dangerous and so destroying as self-righteousness. And you
may be sitting there thinking how good you are. I thank God
I'm not like those people out there in the West Virginia coal
mines and hills and the Kentucky foothills and the Appalachians
and down there in Lexington and Charleston. I'm not like those
extortioners and unjust people and all those old mean adulterers
running around everywhere. I'm good. I go to church and
I tithe and I sing in the choir and I teach Sunday school and
I mind my own business and pay my bills. I'm good. You're going
to hell, my friend. Because God's looking at your
heart and He doesn't see any goodness in there. Most of our
deeds are self-righteous deeds. Now, let me tell you something.
Of all the sins encountered by our Lord when He walked this
earth, and He encountered a lot of them, publicans and harlots
and drunkards and sinners and all kind of wicked sin, He encountered
a lot of sins, but do you know the people? Now, you hold your
seat now a minute. I may shock you. Do you know
the people for whom our Lord had the harshest words? The harshest
words. I mean the sharpest words. It was the self-righteous, moral,
holy, religious people. You read Matthew 23. That's exactly
right. Listen to it. Woe unto you scribes. These are the fellows that translated
and transcribed the Bible. woe unto you Pharisees." These
were the men who taught in the temple. This fellow standing
in the temple, he's one of these Pharisees. Saul of Tarsus said,
I was a Pharisee and I was blameless before the law. Moral, good,
righteous, religious, holy, strict, straight theologians. He said, woe to you scribes and
Pharisees. You do your works to be seen
of men. Can that be said of you? You
do your religious works. You're preaching, teaching, tithing,
giving, going, witnessing, praying, long prayers on the street corner
to be seen of men. How much private praying do you
do? He said, you Pharisees, you love
to be called rabbis. You love to be called master.
You love to be called reverend and doctor. You like to sit in
the chief seat. You like the officers down at
the church. Give me an office. Give me a
title. Call no man rabbi. One is your
master. Call no man father. Your father's
in heaven. You're brethren. And he that
would be greatest among you, let him be your servant." He
said, you Pharisees make long prayers and you make proselytes
to your religion. You win souls to your ritual
and your religion and your denomination so you can brag about how many
decisions you've had. You pay your tithes. You strain
in a net and swallow a camel. You make clean the outside of
the cup. You quit drinking and dancing and playing cards and
going to the show and watching television and all these things
on the outside. But on the inside, you're full
of extortion and excess and dead men's bones, rottenness to the
core. And then our Lord looked at him
and said this. He never said that to the woman
at the well who'd been married five times. He never said that
to the woman found in adultery, cast at his feet. He never said
that to Zacchaeus, the little cheat and fraud and tax collector
who climbed up the tree. He never said that to the blind
Bartimaeus. He said that to the good, religious,
self-righteous people. And when he got through with
them, he said, your generation of snakes, how can you escape
the damnation of hell? My friends, this is a prevalent,
deadly sin of our day. Multitudes of church people,
multitudes, more than you can number. Old grannies out there
everywhere and daddies and mamas and young people got their hair
a certain length and their clothes are black and their rituals and
regulations and rules and standards all set. They're right and everybody's
wrong. They're good. They're moral.
They're righteous. They're holy people before God. They're establishing a righteousness
and earning a reward. He's gone to His reward. You'll
hear them say that. They read the Bible. They go
to church every Sunday. They sing in the choir. They
teach Sunday school. They pay their tithes. They live
moral lives. And when they die, the preacher
says, He's gone to be with the Lord. It's heartbreaking. I tell you, men who've never
been lost claim to be saved. Men have been lifted up who've
never been brought down. Men are saved who've never been
lost. They're raised to life who've
never been dead. They're exalted who've never
been humbled. My friends, according to the Bible, I've been looking
into it a long time. I'm 61 years old. I've been preaching
for 30-some-odd years, almost 40. And according to the Scripture,
salvation's for sinners. It says this is a fateful save. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. Is there a sinner out there?
I haven't seen one in a long time. Where are the sinners?
Where are these people? The angel said to Joseph, Thou
shalt call his name Jesus, he'll save his people from their sins.
I don't know anybody that's got any. They're all good people
in Ashland. Luke 19.10 says, The Son of Man's
come to seek and to save the lost. He's come to seek and to
save lost people. You got any lost people up your
way? You got a lot of good, moral, self-righteous church members.
You got any lost people? Listen to Romans 5. Christ died
for the ungodly. He died for whom? The ungodly. God committed His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
I John 1, 8 says, If any man says he has no sin, he's a liar,
and the truth's not in him. Any man say he hath not sin,
he makes God a liar. One day our Lord was eating with
a group of publicans and sinners. And these religious church folks,
synagogue people where Pharisees were standing back, and they
saw Him eating with the sinners and talking to them. And they
said to the disciples, Why does your Master eat with publicans
and sinners? Why isn't He up here eating with
us good people, righteous people? He's down eating with those sinners.
And the Lord heard them, knew their thoughts, and He said,
The well have no need of a doctor, but they that are sick. Go learn
what this means. I am come to call, not the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. But I ask, where are these sinners?
It's hard to find a sinner. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost hath made him so, and yet my Lord came to save
sinners. Listen to the parable. Our Lord
spake this parable to these moral, holy, good, self-righteous people,
and He said this. Listen to it. Two men went to
the temple to pray. One was a moral, righteous, holy
Pharisee. The other was a publican, a sinner.
Contrast is great. Ask a Jew who was the most moral
man, he'd say a Pharisee. Ask him who's the most immoral
man, he'd say a publican. But both of them believed in
one God. Both of them were sons of Adam. Both of them went to
church and both of them prayed. They had some things in common.
But this is where the comparison is different. They approached
God in an entirely different manner. The Pharisee. Now listen to it. Here's the
moral religious man. And I can hear it today. He made
his way to the front, to the front of the tabernacle, the
temple. He was familiar with the temple.
He was familiar with the worship. He was familiar with all these
things, and he felt like he belonged right down there. The publican,
the Scripture says, stood afar off, way back, unworthy. Like Israel of old, he was putting
some distance between him and Sinai. Room, one old writer said,
for a mediator. And then the Pharisee lifted
his arms. That was a custom, a ritual, even back then. He
felt moral, he felt holy, he felt good, so he lifted his arms
to heaven. The Republican would not so much
as lift even his eyes. He wouldn't lift his arms or
even his eyes to heaven. He didn't let his eyes wall back
in his head like some self-righteous person, you know, trying to look
religious. Oh, he just bowed his head and smote on his breast. and smote on his breath. That's
where the trouble was, see. He had heart trouble. Heart was
desperately wicked. Stony heart, double heart, evil
heart. And the Pharisee prayed with
himself. It wasn't a prayer at all. It
was a self-centered ritual, that's all. Just words, words, old rehearsed,
dead cold words, talking to himself. God didn't hear him. God didn't
hear him. He didn't pray. He talked to
himself. But that publican prayed. He cried to God. Oh, how he cried
to God. And that Pharisee talked about
the trivial matters. He talked about himself. He said,
Oh, God, I am not like other men. And I thank you I'm not
like other men. Oh, I'm glad I'm not like other
people. Why, he said, I fast as he waved his arms in the sky.
And I tithe, and I give alms to the poor. I'm not like that
publican. You know what Isaiah called all
that? Filthy rags. Isaiah the prophet said, our
righteousnesses are filthy rags. This Pharisee, this holier-than-thou
moral religious man came before God with his filthy rags, his
dripping, dirty, filthy rags, and waved them in God's face.
I tell you, waved them in God's face. You know what Paul called
it? Dung. Paul named all these things
he had done, his fasting, praying, giving, going. He said, I count
it but dung that I may win Christ. And this publican, broken over
sin, he had nothing to do with such second-rate, self-righteous,
filthy rags. He talked to God about the two
most important things between God and a sinner. You know what
they are? He talked to God about the two most important things
between God and a sinner. You know what he talked about?
He talked about sin, his sin and God's mercy. I just love
to close this book and let it go right there. He talked about
his sin and God's mercy. And God heard him. And God heard him. He went straight
to God. He didn't go to the bishop. He
didn't go to the priest. He didn't go to the preacher.
He didn't put a call in to the counselors up yonder at some
TV studio. He went to God. That's a pretty
good place to go if you need him. You better sidetrack some
of these folks that are playing God and go straight to him. He
went straight to God. with his head bowed and his smite
smiting on his breast and he cried, oh God, oh God. And he
cried for mercy. He said, be merciful, be merciful. I'm not asking for justice. I'm
not asking for a reward. I'm asking for mercy because
I'm guilty. And you better listen to me.
When a man's soul is at stake, it's your good sense to listen,
especially when the Lord Jesus is talking. And that's who's
speaking in this parable. He cried for mercy. "'Let thy
blood be propitiation for me on the mercy seat.'" That's what
he's saying. Ask anybody who knows anything about the Bible.
He confessed his sins like David in Psalm 51, "'Have mercy upon
me, O God.'" Listen to David, the man after God's own heart.
"'Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness.
Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly. For mine
iniquity cleansed me from my sin. I acknowledge my transgression. My sin is before me." That's
the way this man prayed. Can you see today's religion
in these two men? I see a whole lot of today's
religion in one of them. I wish I could see more of the
other. I see the Pharisee and the holy and the down, the self-righteous
and the good and the folks earning God's acceptance. I don't see
many sinners. I don't hear many sinners. I
don't hear many people crying for mercy. I don't hear many
people suing the throne of grace for forgiveness and mercy and
grace in time of need. Grace is for the guilty. Mercy
is for the miserable. Salvation is for sinners. Well,
these two men left church. One of them came in rich in his
own works and he left poor toward God. He came in confident He
came in full of self-esteem and self-righteousness, and he went
out rejected. The other one came in empty.
He went out full, came in a sinner, and went out forgiven. He came
in poor, and he went out rich. He came in lost, and he went
out saved, because my God is plenteous in mercy, and my God
delights to save. You see, my friend, The Pharisee
justified himself, and God condemned him. And the publican, the sinner,
he justified God and condemned himself, and God justified him. Whosoever confesseth his sin
shall find mercy. Whoso covereth his sin shall
not prosper. The most deadly sin of all is
self-righteousness. I have two messages on this cassette
tape. One of them, the Lord's Table,
an important message. And the one I just brought, on
the most deadly sin of all. Be good to hear it again, because
it is deadly. And I'll tell you, it's subtle.
Send two dollars and we'll mail you this tape. Until next week,
God bless you.