Self-Righteousness - Your Greatest Enemy

Last week, I brought you a message
on the subject, The Hope of Righteousness, or Waiting for Righteousness,
The Hope of the Believer, Righteousness by Faith, Christ's Righteousness. Now, this morning, I'm going
to bring a second message in really a series of messages on
righteousness, and my subject this morning is Self-Righteousness,
Your Greatest Enemy. Now, I'm not selling sermons
or tapes. We have to charge for them because
equipment and tapes and supplies are quite expensive, and all
of you are aware of that. But these two messages are on
the same cassette tape, and they're available if you'd like to have
them. And they only cost $3 for both
messages on the same tape. And you right here, the one on
righteousness, Christ's righteousness, was preached last Sunday morning.
And this morning I'm going to bring a message on your greatest
enemy, self-righteousness. I want you to turn with me to
the 18th chapter of Luke, and let me read you one verse of
scripture. The 18th chapter of Luke, one verse, verse 9. And he, that's Christ we're talking
about, spake this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves
that they were righteous. Now that's my scriptural text,
that's my foundation. Our Lord spoke to these people
and he spoke a story, a parable to them, and he said these people
to whom he was speaking were people who trusted in themselves
that they were righteous. Now we're going to find out what
this story was in a moment, but I want to make two or three opening
comments. First of all, you actually meet few people in this world
who deny the existence of God. Not a lot of people. There are
very few people who really will deny that Jesus Christ was born
and lived on this earth and died on the cross and even rose again. And there are very few people
who will really deny that the Bible is an inspired book. They may argue about divine inspiration
or verbal inspiration or literal or or figurative language, but
they'll tell you that the Bible at least contains the word of
God. And most people believe that there's a heaven and a hell
and a judgment to face and an eternity to spend. In fact, most
people, most people to whom you speak, the people you work with
in your family, your neighborhood, they have a religious, they have
a religious, some religious principles and convictions They wouldn't
call themselves unbelievers. They would be upset if you referred
to them as unbelievers. They have some kind of religion,
religious principles and convictions. They have some kind of religious
hope. Nearly everybody does. But what
is that hope? What is that hope? Well, let
me tell you this. If you ask the average, the present-day
religionist, you ask him, what is your hope for salvation? And
he'll reply something like this, he'll say, well, I'm a member
of the Baptist Church, or I'm a member of the Methodist Church,
I'm a member of the Catholic Church, that's my hope, I go
to church on Sunday, I attend a place of worship, I'm usually
there, and my attendance record is pretty good, or he'll answer
something like this, I made a profession of faith many years ago, I joined
the church, And I've been trying to live a good Christian life.
Or they'll answer something like this. I'm no worse than anybody
else. I live a pretty good life. I pay my debts, and I'm good
to my family, and I mind my own business, and I think everything
will be all right with me. Or somebody will say, well, I
read the Bible, and I pray, and I go to church. And another says,
well, I was sprinkled when I was an infant, or I was baptized,
or I made a profession of religion. All of these different answers.
You know what this is? This is establishing our righteousness. In other words, it's self-righteousness. And it's the subtle way of Satan
to deceive you and to deceive everybody he can. It's a false
assurance, it's a false refuge, it's a false comfort. And one
old writer says it's a soul-destroying snare and trap employed by Satan
to oppose the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the sin
of the Pharisees. They said, we'd be not sinners.
This was the sin of Saul of Tarsus. He said, considering the law,
I was blameless. This was the sin of Israel. Paul
wrote in Romans 10, they're going about to establish their own
righteousness. And this is the sin that is condemning
more people than all of the sins of the flesh combined, and that's
the sin of self-righteousness. You know one of the rarest things
that you'll ever encounter? It's a man who will plainly declare
when you ask him this question, what is your hope of salvation?
What is your hope of redemption? What is your hope for eternal
life? This is the rarest individual you'll ever encounter is the
man who answers something like this, I'm such a great sinner. My sins are ever before me. If
God Almighty shows mercy to me, it'll have to be through the
merits of his son. for I have no merits. It will
have to be by the righteousness of his Son, for I have no righteousness. My righteousnesses are filthy
rags. If God Almighty saves me, it
will have to be by the sacrifice of his Son. My only hope, my
only plea, is that when Jesus Christ died on that cross, he
died for me." Now, that's rare. When you ask someone, what is
your hope for salvation? What is your hope for eternal
life? It's rare that they ever mention Christ. They'll tell
you about an experience that they had. They'll tell you about
a dream that they had. They'll tell you about a profession
they made. They'll tell you about works they've done. They'll tell
you about church membership they hold. They'll tell you about
tithes that they've paid. They'll tell you about journeys
that they've made. They'll tell you about alms that
they've given. They'll tell you about all these things. But rarely
will you ever find an individual who will base his hope for mercy
on Christ. and his hope for cleansing on
the blood, and his hope for grace on the mercy of God. Rarely,
you just rarely find that. Now, I know we're familiar with
scriptures like these. They're in the Bible, we know
they're in the Bible, but the average religionist has not experienced
them. Listen, as in Adam, all die. We know that's there, but we've
never experienced that. In Adam, all die. In Christ,
we're made alive. That's the gospel right there. When Adam stood, we stood. When Adam sinned, we sinned.
When he fell, we fell. When he died, we died. Enemies
of God, separated from God's presence. When Christ came to
earth, we stood in him, we lived in him, we met the law in him,
we died in him, we were buried in him, risen in him and singed
with him. As we have borne the image of
the earthly Adam, so we shall bear the image of the heavenly
Christ. We know those scriptures, but why doesn't someone answer
that when you ask, what is your hope? Listen to this scripture. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all. He was wounded for our transgression.
He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. By his stripes we are healed.
I'd like to hear that sometime when I ask a man, what is your
hope for eternal life? Instead of him telling me about
an experience he had, tell me about an experience through which
Christ went. Instead of him telling me about a decision he made or
works he's done, tell me about the cross and the blood. That's
what Isaiah is saying. We read those things. How about
this one? Not by works of righteousness
which we've done, but according to his mercy hath he saved us
with the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost. How about this verse? By the disobedience of one we
were made sinners, by the obedience of one shall we be made righteous. What about this one in 1 Peter
1.18, Forasmuch as ye know ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things, such as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as a lamb without blemish or spot. I tell you what's wrong. The true remedy for sin will
not be salt. until the disease of sin has
been diagnosed. The true remedy for sin, the
true cleansing fountain, the true atonement, will not be sought
diligently and earnestly by any sinner until he needs it, until
he needs it. The lost are going to be found.
They are going to be found. Sinners are going to be saved.
The broken heart is going to be healed. The mourner is going
to be comforted. The hungry and the thirsty are
going to be filled. But here's our problem. Men don't
need mercy. They're not sinners. Ask them. Listen to this verse of Scripture
in Job 33 verse 27. If any man say, I have sinned,
I have sinned and perverted that which is right, You'd have to
pull a fellow's fingernails out to get him to say that in this
generation. Well, I'm not as bad as so-and-so. I may not be
the best fellow in the world, but I'm not the worst. I've done
pretty well, you know. That's my language. But listen
to God's language. If any man say, I have sinned
and perverted that which is right, it profiteth me not. He will
deliver his soul from going down into the pit, and his life shall
see the light. Listen to these verses of verses
with which you are so familiar, you could quote them to me, 1
John 1, 8-10. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if we say we have not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word is not in us. The reason men
do not seek mercy is they do not feel their need of mercy.
The reason men are not aware of the grace of God is because
they are not aware of their guilt before God. David's Psalm of
Repentance is strange language to most of us. Listen to David
in Psalm 51, verse 1. according to thy tender mercies,
according to thy lovingkindness, blot out my transgressions, wash
me throughly from mine iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, I acknowledge
my transgression, my sin is ever before me." No, sir, that's not
our language, but that's spiritual language, and that's the language
of everybody with whom God dealt in mercy and grace. And that's
the language of everybody whom the Lord came to save. He says
the sacrifices of God are a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And the Lord saved as such as
thee of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And the great sin that
keeps men from God today is not the sin of drunkenness. You could
dry up all of the cities in this United States and close all the
taverns and put all the bootleggers out of business and people would
still go to hell. because the self-righteousness is keeping
them from God. It's not the gambling den, it's
not the picture shows, it's not the dance halls, it's not these
things. These are not the sins that are
keeping men from God. No man is too great a sinner
to be saved. But there's some folks too good
to be saved. That's right. There's some folks too good to
be saved. You follow our Lord in his ministry on this earth,
and you tell me the people with whom he dealt." He said the Son
of Man had come to seek and to save the lost. Christ died for
the ungodly. He dealt with sinners. His harshest
words were for the moral, religious, self-righteous Pharisees. He
called them a generation of snakes. He called them hypocrites. He
said they made clean the outside of the cup, and the inside is
full of dead men's bones. He called them whited sepulchres
that appeared beautiful on the outside, but on the inside they
were full of extortion and excess. And our Lord's kindest words
were for the publicans and the harlots and the sinners. He came
to save them. He came to die for sinners. And
the thing that's keeping you from God He's able to say to
the uttermost of them that come to God by him, he says, though
your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them white as snow. Though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. But you have
no sin, therefore you need no Savior, and therefore you have
no Savior. And therefore you will stand before God some day
and be judged, not by your standard of holiness, but by his perfect
holy standard, which is his almighty, eternal, immutable, infinite
glory. You've come short of that. Our
Lord spake a parable to these folks, and this parable reads
like it was spoken yesterday. You turn to Luke 18, verses 9
through 14. This is for our day. It's so
full of instruction and so full of meaning for our day that it
might have been spoken this morning. Our Lord Jesus Christ might have
given us this this morning for this generation, for false religion
and self-righteousness keeps the center apart from the Savior. That's the reason they don't
come, is because they don't need him. But now you listen to this.
Here it is. I'll give you about five or six points so you can
remember the story. First of all, we see this. Our
Lord spake this parable to certain who trusted in themselves that
they were righteous. He said, first of all, two men
went to church. Two men went to church. That
is, two men went up to the temple to pray. Now, both of these men
went to the temple. Both of these men, from all outward
appearances, went to the temple to engage in religious activities. That sounds like us going to
church on Sunday morning. You get out here in Huntington,
or Ashland, or Beckley, or Parkersburg, or some of these cities, and
you see all these folks on Sunday morning in their cars, they're
all going to church. The church is all over the place, and they're
going to church. Well, these two fellows went
to church. Both of them believed in God. Both of them. Both of them walked the same
road. They came in the same front door. Both of them went into
the house of God. Both of them engaged in a form
of prayer. Both of them engaged in a form
of religious worship. But these two men are as different
as Cain and Abel. They're as different as light
and dark. And here they are in the same building, in the same
temple, doing the same thing, praying, worshiping. Both of
them believe in God, but they are different. Two different
men. Our Lord said two men went to
church, but one was a Pharisee and the other was a Publican. Now, my friends, it's impossible
to imagine a more striking contrast in the eyes and opinions of this
Jewish congregation than a Pharisee and a publican, it's just impossible
to imagine a greater contrast. The Pharisee was the most religious
man of his day. Somebody said one time back in
these days, if two men go to heaven, one of them will be a
scribe and one of them will be a Pharisee. These Pharisees were
the strictest of the religionists of their day. They kept the Sabbath,
they engaged in ceremonies, They kept all the rituals. They knew
all the traditions. These men would take the scriptures
and stand out on the street corners and read them. And they would
pray on the street corners to be seen as men. These were moral
men. These were pious men. These were
men that made broad their phylacteries. These were men that would have
scripture verses written on their caps and all of these things.
They were most religious. Most religious. That's the Pharisee. The other man was a publican. Now, to the Jew, he had a disgraceful
office. You know what his office was?
Usually these publicans were Roman tax collectors. They were
the scourge of society. These men were ruthless. They
were collecting taxes the Jews hated badly enough to pay Roman
taxes. But to have one of their own
people come and collect them and over-collect them, they always
added to the taxes so they could They could get something for
themselves called graft. We know something about that
in this day. A 5% extra, a 10% extra, something like for personal
use. Our Lord, talking about the publicans and how people
disliked them, he said, if a man will not hear the church, let
him be to you as a heathen and a publican. Now those are the
two men. Our Lord said two men went to church. Two men went
to the temple to pray. One of them was a Pharisee. He
was a denominational leader. He was a well-taught man in the
Bible. He was a moral man. He was a
tither. He was a pastor. He was a man
who was most religious. The other man. Now listen to
me. This parable is for our day. It's for this self-righteous
day when men are seeking approval and acceptance by God on the
basis of what they've done in religion. He said the other is
a publican. Extreme comparison, extreme contrast. All right, let's see the third
thing. Notice these two men both went to church. They were different
in character. They were different also in their
approach to God. Now, the Amplified Bible says
the Pharisee came in and he took his stand ostentatiously. He went down near the front.
He felt like he belonged there. He felt like he was part of this
religious organization. He felt like he paid his dues,
you know. He felt like he's good as anybody there, or better than
most of them. He felt very well-versed in the
scripture. He felt like a very righteous
man, and he went right down to the front. And he began to lift
his hands, holy hands in prayer. He began to lift his eyes to
heaven. He had a smug expression on his face and a satisfied feeling
in his heart, and he begins to pray with himself. I thank you,
I'm not like other men. I thank you, God, I'm not like
other men. Extortioners, adulterers, unjust, I'm not like that. I'm
not even like that publican back there. Lord, I fast, you know
that, twice a week. And Lord, I pay tithes of all
that I present. I wouldn't rob God, I pay my
tithes strictly. If I make $13, you get $1.30.
If I make $150, you get $15. I tithe everything I possess."
There he stands. He's telling the truth, too.
Yes, sir, he was telling the truth. He was not an unjust man
outwardly. He was not an extortioner outwardly.
He was not an adulterer outwardly. He did fast. He did pray. He
did read the Bible. He did give alms, and he let
God know about it, and everybody else, too. That's generally the
way self-righteous Pharisees do. They want everybody to know
about their good works. They want everybody to know what
they've done this week, and how many times they've prayed, and
how much scripture they've read. That's the reason they like all
this counting, raising hands, you know, and letting folks know.
But the publican, the other man, this is the tax collector, this
is the disgraceful fellow in the disgraceful occupation. He
wouldn't come down for us. Scripture says he stood at a
distance. He was ashamed. He was ashamed
of himself and of his sins. He was guilty. He was embarrassed. He didn't feel like he belonged.
He felt like a sinner. He felt dirty. He felt filthy. He felt before God that he had
no right to be there. He wouldn't lift his hands to
heaven. The scripture says he wouldn't lift so much as his
eyes to heaven. But he stood back there in the
corner and he just smote upon his breast. Somebody said he
felt like the source of his whole problem. was his heart, his depraved,
wretched heart, and he just beat on that heart. He just beat on
that heart. And this is what he said. Listen to him. Listen
to the two men, different in their prayers, different in their
prayers, different in their character, different in their approach,
and different in their prayers. Listen to him. Oh, God, he said,
be merciful. Not be just, because he knew
if God gave him justice, he'd damn him. Be merciful. The Pharisee
asked for justice. He said, Lord, I want you to
reward me for what I've done. I've served you admirably. I've
served you courageously. I've served you faithfully. I've
served you loyally. I've kept your word. Now you
reward me. But not this man. Oh, God, be merciful to me. And someone tells us that's a
definite article there, be sinner. There's not another one like
me. I'm the chief of sinners. That's the language of Saul of
Tarsus, chief of sinners, all the apostles. This man, do you
know what he actually was saying according to the original translation
of the scripture? O God, make a propitiation. O God, offer an atonement for
me on the mercy seat. That's what he's saying. O God,
be reconciled to me by the sacrifice which thou hast appointed. Now
there he is. Can you find today's religion
in either of these men? Can you find yourself? Our Lord
spake this parable. to certain who trusted in themselves.
Which one sounds like you? Which one sounds like your pastor?
Which one sounds like the deacon down at your church, or the elder,
or the steward? Which one sounds like the congregation
in which you worship? God, I thank you I'm not like
lifting our hands and our eyes ostentatiously to glory, thanking
God how good we are and how we don't go to the picture show,
and we don't curse, and we don't drink, and we don't gamble, and
we don't swear, and we don't dance, and we don't play cards,
and we don't bow, we don't do this, we don't do that, we thank
you God. How many people do you hear crying,
oh God, let thy blood be propitiation for me on the mercy seat. These
people, and I'm going to shock you here because the Bible is
a shocking book. Two men leave church, one of
them leaves accepted by God, the other leaves eternally damned. You want to pick out which one?
The average person would say, if there is anybody in heaven
who is that Pharisee, why, he tithed and gave alms and fasted,
and he wasn't an adulterer and he wasn't unjust and he wasn't
an extortioner, and if anybody was going to him, surely it would
be that man. Well, you missed it. Our Lord said, there is the
other fellow that went home justified. Look at it yourself in Luke 18,
9-14. These men left the temple. The Pharisee came to the temple,
he came rich in merit and rich in self-esteem and rich in self-righteousness,
and he went away empty under the judgment of God. Because God judged him on the
very ground he chose to stand on. He chose to stand on his
merit, and it wasn't enough. He chose to stand on his holiness,
and it wasn't holy enough. He chose to stand on his righteousness,
and it wasn't righteous enough. He chose to stand on his deeds,
and they weren't good enough, and God condemned him. The other
man chose to approach God as a sinner. He chose to approach
God as an infehanded. He chose to approach God as a
needy sinner. And God did what he said he'd
do. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll
give you rest. For every one that thirsteth, come to the water,
That's right. Though your sins be as scarlet,
I'll make them white as snow. Come to me. And that's what that
man did. In my hands no cross I bring,
except through the cross of Christ I cling. Could my tears forever
flow? Could my zeal no longer know?
These for sin could never atone. Christ must save and Christ alone.
That's the way I'm coming, like that publican. And woe be unto
every Pharisee. that comes to a holy God boasting
of what you are, what you know, what you have.

Self-Righteousness - Your Greatest Enemy

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Self-Righteousness - Your Greatest Enemy

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