Going Home Justified

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I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to the Gospel of Luke.
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We have been in an extended study of the book of Genesis, but today is Reformation Sunday and we're celebrating that by taking a break from Genesis and we're going to look at a parable from our Lord Jesus Christ.
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We're going to be in Luke 18 verses 9 to 14 when it comes time to read.
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October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, which became a watershed moment in church history, even though many people today don't understand why it was important.
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In the centuries leading up to the Protestant Reformation, many false and abhorrent teachings had crept into the church.
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Many of them were opposed to the Gospel that they claimed to support.
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The perpetuatory sacrifice of the Mass, or the Lord's Supper, was among the most egregious.
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They taught that Christ's sacrifice on the cross had to be repeated for sin over and over and over on the table.
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There was also the veneration of relics and images.
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There were prayers to Mary and to other saints.
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But the most outrageous of those false teachings that came out of Rome was the sale of indulgences.
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The indulgence was a certificate of forgiveness that could be purchased with money.
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The certificates had the sign and seal of the Pope embedded upon them.
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And if you were to purchase this certificate of forgiveness, you could not only purchase for yourself freedom from sin, but you could also purchase freedom for your loved ones who had died and gone on, and who many believed were in purgatory, waiting to be freed.
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A man by the name of Johann Tetzel would go into the countryside and he would sell these indulgences much like a huckster of today would go and hawk his wares on the street corner.
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And his famous quote was, When a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs.
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And what's interesting is it rhymes in German just as well as it does in English.
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An Augustinian monk named Martin Luther found himself in the midst of this.
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But Luther was no revolutionary.
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He had no intention of dividing the church or starting a new church.
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Luther's main concern was finding peace for his own troubled soul.
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Hours upon hours he would spend praying, confessing, and desperately seeking the comfort of forgiveness.
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But no comfort was available for his soul.
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He knew that he was a sinner.
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And he knew that God was just.
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And if God be just, then he must condemn him an unjust man.
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Luther knew that he was a wretch before Almighty God.
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Then as it were, light from heaven dawned upon him and Luther realized the truth of the gospel.
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His sins could not be paid for by pilgrimages, masses, confessions to priests, penance, or the purchase of an indulgence.
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His sins could only be forgiven upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Therefore, he became convinced that justification was sola fide, Latin, by faith alone.
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This proclamation would go on to divide the church and define the distinction between Catholic and Protestant.
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The Protestant would proclaim justification by faith alone.
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The Catholic, by confessional assertion, proclaimed that justification by faith alone is damnable heresy.
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The Roman Catholic Church convened a council.
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It was called the Council of Trent.
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Many of you, if you did any studies in history or social studies, have maybe heard of the Council of Trent.
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The Council of Trent was the counter-reformation council.
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As the Reformation began to build steam in Germany and Switzerland and other places, the Catholic Church came out in response to it and they condemned the Protestants.
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In Canon 9 of the Council of Trent, it says this, If anyone saith that by faith alone the pious is justified and such wise as to mean that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification, and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will, let him be anathema.
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Now that might have been a little hard to follow.
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Basically what it's saying is if you believe you are justified by faith alone and nothing else, you are damned by God.
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Canon 24, If anyone saith that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works, but that the said works are merely the fruits and sign of justification obtained, but not a cause or increase thereof, let him be anathema.
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What is that saying? If you believe your good works are the product of your faith and not the cause of your justification, you are damned.
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Canon 30, If anyone saith that after the grace of justification has been received, to every penitent sinner the guilt is remitted, and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such wise that there remains not any debt or temporal punishment to be discharged either in this world or the next in purgatory, before the entrance of the kingdom of heaven can be opened to him, let him be anathema.
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What is that saying? It's saying this, if you believe your sins are totally wiped out by the blood of Christ and everyone has been paid for and you don't have to do something else to pay for your own sins, you are damned.
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You hear that? Again, you are damned if you believe you are justified by faith alone.
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You are damned if you believe your good works are not a cause for the increase of your justification.
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And you are damned if you believe you have no more debt before God.
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This was the proclamation of damnation from Rome to the Protestant reformers.
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And by the way, this is not a debate that ended 500 years ago.
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It rages to this very day.
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To this very day if you stand among those who call themselves Roman Catholics and you proclaim justification by faith alone, they will call you heretic, false teacher, or at the very best, an errant brother.
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Dr.
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R.C.
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Sproul had a group of people come to his church.
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Actually, it was to his office.
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He was working at the Ligonier offices many years ago.
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And they came to his offices and they were proclaiming that they had finally found unity in their faith.
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And it was a group of different people from different denominations.
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Some Methodist, some Presbyterian, some Baptist, and some Roman Catholic, and some others.
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And they came in and they said, Dr.
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Sproul, we have found great unity in our faith.
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And we now know for certain what it means to be unified in Christ.
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We want you to join us in this grand unity.
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And Dr.
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Sproul said, that is wonderful.
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And I'm so excited and so thankful that you have found this unity in Christ.
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But let me ask you this one question.
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Is a man justified by faith alone or not? And he said within two minutes they were at each other's throats.
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This great finding of unity is only found when you give up the article upon which the church stands or falls.
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By the way, that's what Luther called the doctrine of justification by faith.
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He said it's the article upon which the church will stand or the church will fall.
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This morning I want us to examine a parable of Jesus Christ.
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Which I believe demonstrates the reality that when we come to God, we bring no righteousness of our own.
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Instead we come with the empty hand of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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That is all we bring.
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And Christ is our all in all.
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So let us open our Bibles together.
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Let us stand and read this parable together.
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As we give honor and reverence to the word of God.
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This is Luke chapter 18.
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Verses 9 to 14.
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Speaking of Jesus it says, He also told this parable to some who were trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.
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Two men went up into the temple to pray.
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One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
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The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, God I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector.
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I fast twice a week.
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I give tithes of all that I get.
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But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift his eyes to heaven.
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But beat his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
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I tell you.
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This man went down to his house justified.
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Rather than the other.
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For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.
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But the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
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Amen.
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May God add his blessing to the reading and to the hearing of his word.
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May God add his truths to our hearts today.
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And may God keep me from error as I preach.
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Amen.
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You may be seated.
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I can't tell you how much I've looked forward to preaching this text.
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I love this passage.
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I love the Bible.
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But there are certain passages which rend my heart every time that I read them.
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Every time I think about them and I've used them so many times in preaching the gospel.
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And sharing my faith with other people.
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And this is one of those passages.
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This text is usually known as the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
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But I want to go ahead and make a note of something.
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I will probably say publican.
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Because it is so ingrained in my mind.
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This is the parable of the Pharisee and the publican.
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Not the Pharisee and the tax collector.
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Because publican was the old English word for this.
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And as much as I'm devoted to alliteration at times.
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The Pharisee and the publican tends to stick in my mind more than tax collector.
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So if you hear me say the word publican.
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Forgive me if I'm not trying to be confusing.
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It's just another word for tax collector.
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This parable is interesting in that it only finds itself in the gospel of Luke.
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It follows another parable.
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The parable of the persistent widow.
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Who went to the king and was asking of the king to receive justice from her adversaries.
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And the king kept telling her no.
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And finally because of her persistence.
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The king finally relented and gave her what she needed.
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And Jesus gives us in that parable a reminder about persistence in prayer.
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And so that's what happens right before we get into this text.
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And because of that some people think that this text.
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This parable about the two men going to the temple.
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Is really about prayer.
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Because of it's position with the other parable that is about prayer.
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But I want to argue this morning that it's not so much about prayer.
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Even though I think prayer is in view.
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This is more about how should a sinful man approach a holy God.
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And I say that because that is what Luke tells us this parable is of.
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If you go to verse 9.
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Luke actually tells us the audience and the purpose of this parable.
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We don't always get that.
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Sometimes a parable is just spoken.
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And we're left with a force to sort of interpret who the audience is.
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And what the focus of the parable is.
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But this parable we are given an introduction.
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A divinely inspired introduction by the gospel writer himself.
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And so we're going to look at the introduction first.
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And we're going to see who the intended audience was.
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And then from there we're going to begin to understand.
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What this parable is about.
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And what it's saying to the original audience.
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And by that what it continues to be saying to us today.
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So let us look first at the intended audience.
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Verse 9.
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He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves.
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That they were righteous and treated others with contempt.
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Right away we're told this is a parable.
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Not every story that Jesus ever told was a parable.
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Sometimes Jesus told stories of actual events with actual people.
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But a parable is not a story of an actual event of actual people.
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But a story that has a moral message.
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It has a central point of focus for us to learn from.
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The parable is intended to teach us something.
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Parable means to lay a story alongside of some truth.
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And those two truths go together.
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So that you're able to better understand the truth.
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And so he tells this parable.
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And he tells it to some who trusted in themselves.
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That they were righteous.
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Beloved might I say to you this morning.
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That the audience of this parable.
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Is the vast majority of the world.
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The audience of this parable.
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Are those who trusted in their own righteousness.
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And that is almost everyone you will ever meet.
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In fact I want to add a word to Jesus' words.
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And I know this can be dangerous.
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So understand that I'm not saying that this should be part of the text.
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I'm not saying we should change the text.
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But I want to add this because I think this is the heart of what Jesus.
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Or what the Gospel writer is saying here.
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The Gospel of Luke.
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When he says Jesus is speaking to those who thought they were righteous enough.
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When you go and you share the Gospel with people.
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What do they always proclaim? I'm righteous enough.
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Oh if God were to judge me.
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He would certainly see that my good outweighs my bad.
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Oh if God were to judge me.
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He would certainly see that from the time of my birth.
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I have certainly done much more in the positive column.
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Than I have in the negative column.
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If God were to judge me.
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He would see that my life has been lived as one.
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Not perfect.
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But righteous enough.
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No man proclaims his own perfection.
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But as the proverb says.
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Almost every man will proclaim his own goodness.
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Isn't this what we find when we go to share the Gospel brother Mike? Are you a good person? And the person says.
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Absolutely.
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Especially when you compare me to my brother.
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Or when you compare me to my cousin.
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Or when you compare me to all those people down in the jail house.
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Or when you compare me to the people down in Rayford.
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Or when you compare me to the people across the seas that are killing Christians.
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Of course I am among the righteous.
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You see and understand beloved.
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That the problem is that every man sees himself as much better than he is.
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And Jesus is telling this parable.
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To everyone who sees himself as more than he is.
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But see there is a side of the coin that most of us don't even realize.
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Because not only is he speaking to those who see themselves as righteous enough.
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That is true.
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But he says they also treat others with content.
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You realize what happens in the lives of most people.
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Is they see themselves as the hero.
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And all other people as the villain.
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You can have a man do the same thing you do.
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And you look at him and say.
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Oh how evil.
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And you will justify yourself.
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He was a wicked man for doing what he has done.
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But I had good reason.
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He is going to surely burn in hell for all that he has done.
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But I will be in the lap of luxury and glory of heaven.
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Because I am righteous and he is wicked.
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Now beloved I believe in my heart of hearts.
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That Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees here.
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Because he uses the Pharisee as one of the men in the story.
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And they were in Jesus' time.
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They were the people who thought themselves were righteous.
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And everybody else was not.
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They were the ones who put themselves on the pedestal.
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And everyone else was at their feet.
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They were the ones who the Bible says.
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Made long prayers on the street corners.
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So everyone could see them.
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They had their phylacteries long.
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Which were these scriptures that they had rolled into parchment.
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And sewn into their clothing.
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So that everyone would see how devoted they were to the law of God.
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And they were the ones who would say.
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I am righteous.
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And all others are wicked.
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But beloved is this not a portrait of us.
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If we were not for a moment.
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To try to hide our sinfulness from one another.
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Could we not say that we all at times have a Pharisee within us.
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That we all have a fig leaf to which we cling.
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You say what do you mean by that pastor? You remember what did Adam and Eve try to do when they sinned? They tried to cover their own sins with fig leaves.
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They tried to establish their own righteousness.
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Oh don't we all have a fig leaf that we hold on to.
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So is this parable not for us? Is this parable not for every person.
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Who sees himself as righteous enough.
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And would look at others and say but you're not.
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Oh most certainly I am.
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But oh most certainly you are not.
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This is the audience that Luke tells us Jesus is speaking to.
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And we see beginning in verse 10 the parable.
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We see two characters.
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There's two men.
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A Pharisee which I've already described.
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And a publican.
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The Pharisee was the religious elite.
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He was the conservative.
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He was the zealous law keeper.
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But the publican, the tax collector.
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He was the social pariah.
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He was the outcast.
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He was likely a Jewish person.
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Who had gone into league with the enemy.
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The enemy was Rome.
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And what you could do if you desired to.
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You could purchase the right to collect taxes.
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From your fellow Jewish citizens.
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And you purchased this right like a license.
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And you would go and you would turn over your license.
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Or you purchased the license so that you could go out and become a tax collector.
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And what you would often do is you would collect more than what was necessary.
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So that Rome could have their share.
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And you could have yours.
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Do you remember the story of Zacchaeus? The wee little man.
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Zacchaeus was a tax collector.
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Remember he climbed up the tree to see Jesus.
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Jesus had come down.
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I'm going to eat at your house today.
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And Jesus ate at his house.
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And after Jesus proclaimed the gospel to him.
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We know not the whole conversation.
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But we know at the end of the conversation.
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What did he do? He walked over and he said.
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If I have stolen.
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I'm going to give it back.
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I'm going to pay the money back.
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And I'm going to give all my money away.
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I'm not going to do this anymore.
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Because he realized the desperate condition he was in as a tax collector.
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Because he was an extortioner.
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He was a wicked man.
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Who had turned his back on his own people.
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Become in league with the enemy.
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And now was taking the overage from his people.
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To share with the enemy.
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Certainly hated.
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Was this man.
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But the Pharisee was loved.
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Think about that.
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When Jesus tells this story.
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Two men went to the temple to pray.
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One a Pharisee.
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And one a publican.
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Who do you think the audience was rooting for? The Pharisee.
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He's the hero.
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He's the conservative.
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He's the believing Jew.
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Certainly he will come out.
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Unscathed.
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In this story.
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And certainly Jesus will stomp.
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The toes.
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Of those dastardly.
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Publicans.
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So we see the two men.
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The place that they go is the same.
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Interestingly.
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They both go to the temple.
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But they don't both go in the same way to the temple.
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And this has to be understood historically.
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The Pharisee.
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Would have been welcomed into the temple.
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He would have been a person common at the temple.
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Likely there every day.
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He would have been known for public prayer.
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Both outside the temple.
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And inside the temple.
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So for him to come into the temple.
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And to raise his hands.
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As was the proper position of prayer.
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And to raise his eyes up to heaven.
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Was no different thing.
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Was no odd thing.
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To see him do that.
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And it would have been well accepted.
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That he would go right in.
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And have no one holding him back.
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But the publican.
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Was persona.
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Non grata.
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He was not welcome in the temple.
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He had received.
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The mark of excommunication.
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He said pastor how do you know that? The publicans.
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The tax collectors.
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Because of them.
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Turning against the people.
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Of Israel.
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Because of them.
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Becoming in league.
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With the Jewish.
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Or with the Romans.
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They had essentially become excommunicants.
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And we know this.
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Because we go to Matthew 18.
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And Jesus is describing.
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Excommunication.
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How does Jesus describe it? He said if a person sins.
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And he has to be excommunicated.
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You are to treat him.
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As a Gentile.
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Or a tax collector.
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Because the Gentiles.
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Were not allowed in the temple.
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They had the court of the Gentiles.
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Which was outside.
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They could go there if they wanted to.
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But they could not come into the temple.
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Neither could the tax collectors.
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Because they had received.
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The condemnation of excommunication.
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So two men go to the same place.
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But not in the same way.
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One goes.
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As welcome.
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And one goes.
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As unwelcome.
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And yet they both go to the same place.
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One goes in further.
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By the nature of his position.
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The other stands far out.
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Because of the nature.
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Of his position.
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And then we see.
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They are both there for the same reason.
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It says they both came to the temple.
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To pray.
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That was their reason.
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But now we are going to look at their prayer.
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And we are going to see.
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That though they both came for the same reason.
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They did not come with the same heart.
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And they did not come with the same prayer.
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I want us to look at the prayer.
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Of the Pharisee.
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And the prayer of the tax collector.
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And I want us to see the heart of each man.
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And I want to tell you this.
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And I want to be careful with what I am about to say.
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Because some of you will tell me.
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I don't publicly pray a lot.
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And that's fine.
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But what I am about to say.
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Take this to heart.
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How we pray often tells us the condition of our heart.
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That's right.
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I am not saying you don't have to get up and give the kings English.
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And I thank thee oh Lord.
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I am not saying that.
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But what I am saying is this.
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What we pray and how we pray.
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Often tells us a lot about who we are.
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And how we understand God.
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So here we have the Pharisee.
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What does he say? God I thank you.
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That I.
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Am not.
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Like other men.
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What a prayer.
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Just for a moment.
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We can meditate on those words.
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God I thank you.
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That I am not.
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Like other men.
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Now I want to say something that may strike you as odd.
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I think there is a sense in which that can be a noble thing to pray.
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Hang with me.
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No tomatoes yet.
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I have.
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In my heart.
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The same seed.
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Of sin.
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That was in Adolf Hitler.
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I have in my heart.
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The same seed of unrighteousness.
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That was in.
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Theodore Bundy.
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Or any of those men that you can think of that are evil men.
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And I can rightfully thank God.
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That he by his grace has kept me.
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From the sin.
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That I could do.
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In my wicked nature.
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You've heard and probably heard this well.
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But by the grace of God.
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There go I.
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But.
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I don't think that's the heart of the Pharisee here.
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So when I say his prayer could be a noble prayer.
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Only in the sense that you understand what God has kept you from.
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And that you are no better than those other men.
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But thank you God that you have not let me walk the same path as those men.
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Thank you that you've not put me in the same shoes as those men.
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Thank you that I have not been in those positions.
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And been allowed to do what those men did.
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I can say thank God for that.
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Because I certainly have within me the capacity to do those things.
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I have in my heart.
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A wicked sin.
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And a wicked seed.
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That came straight from Adam.
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To me.
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But see the Pharisee.
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He wasn't really thanking God.
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The Pharisee was congratulating himself.
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I want to say that again just to make sure you hear it.
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The Pharisee wasn't really thanking God.
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The Pharisee was congratulating himself.
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I listened to a sermon by George Whitfield.
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Somebody obviously had to read it because he's been dead for 200 years.
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But somebody read it and I listened to them read it.
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And he talked about this point in the message.
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And he said this.
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He said this man surely exalted free will.
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Because he's exalting what he has done.
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Surely basically what he was saying is surely this man is not a Calvinist.
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Surely this man is an Arminian because he's exalting his own free will.
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Look at what I have done oh God.
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And congratulate me for all that I have done.
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Oh God aren't you so lucky to have me.
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Aren't you oh God so fortunate to have me.
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I am not like other men.
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I am not an extortioner.
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Certainly he had in view the tax collector.
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Because that was what the tax collectors were known for extorting money.
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Surely I am not an unjust man.
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Surely I'm not an adulterer.
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Surely I'm not like this tax collector.
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And you know what the funny thing is? All of that probably true.
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He probably was not an extortioner.
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He probably wasn't an adulterer.
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At least not physically.
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But in his heart his wickedness was as deep as the other man.
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And I think his most egregious claim was when he said I'm not unjust.
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By the way later when Jesus says the one went home justified.
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Literally that means declared just.
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This man is declaring himself just.
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I am not unjust.
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Beloved if there is anything we need to understand is that this.
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Before God all men are unjust.
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Before God we have all broken God's law.
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No man can stand before God and say I am just in myself.
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Again he's not thanking God for keeping him from sin.
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He's congratulating himself for all that he has done.
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And he claims in verse 13.
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Not only his privations.
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I'm not unjust.
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I'm not wicked.
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I'm not like the tax collector.
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But these are my donations.
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Not only my privations to things I don't do.
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But here are my donations.
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I fast twice a week.
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You know in the Old Testament.
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As far as I can figure out.
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There's only one required fast in the Old Testament law.
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It was the annual day of fast.
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So what's he saying? I fast so much.
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I fast twice a week.
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And I give a tithe of all that I get.
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Notice what he's saying about himself.
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Not only am I not bad.
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I'm really good.
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Not only do I not have these privations.
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I give all these donations.
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And let me tell you something.
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There's nothing wrong with fasting.
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Fasting is a great discipline.
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And it is a wonderful spiritual discipline.
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And there is nothing wrong with tithing.
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It is a wonderful blessing that you give to the Lord what he has given to you.
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And be faithful with your giving.
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But neither fasting.
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Nor tithing.
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Nor anything else that you do.
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Will add one iota.
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To your justification before God.
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But this man.
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Proclaimed his own goodness.
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But then we see the publican.
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We see the publican.
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Standing far off.
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He would not even lift his eyes to heaven.
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Most of us don't think much about that.
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Because when we pray.
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We tend to pray with our heads down.
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But again remember.
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The position of prayer.
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Was arms up.
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Eyes up.
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Oh Lord our God.
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Maker of heaven and earth.
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This was the proclamation of prayer.
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And it was the standard position of prayer.
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To lift up holy hands.
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And to lift our eyes to the Lord.
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Because that is the idea of where God is.
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He is above.
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And so we would look up to God.
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But the publican would not look to God.
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But instead he looked down.
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His eyes could not look to heaven.
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And he beat his breast.
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He said Lord.
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And he beat himself in the chest.
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Which was a sign of contrition.
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And a broken heart.
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And his prayer.
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Though it be short.
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Is deserving of a little bit of breaking down.
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I want to break down.
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He only said a few words.
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But think of what he said.
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First he uses the same address as the Pharisee.
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He said God I thank you.
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That I am not like other men.
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And the publican says God.
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So he begins with the same address.
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But with a much different disposition.
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I think the publican.
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Had come to the position.
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That he actually understood who he is talking to.
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He said why do you think he understands who he is talking to? Because he is in the position.
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That Isaiah was in.
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In Isaiah chapter 6.
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Isaiah chapter 6.
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In the year King Uzziah died.
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I saw the Lord seated upon his throne.
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And the train of his robe filled the temple.
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And he was surrounded by the seraphim.
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All going around singing.
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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
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And what did Isaiah do? I said woe is me.
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For I am a man of unclean lips.
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And I live among a people of unclean lips.
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And I have seen the king.
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That is what we do.
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When we meet God.
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People say all the time.
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I saw God.
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And I walked with God.
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And we had a great conversation.
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No you didn't.
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You saw God.
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And you face planted in the desperation of your own sin.
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That's it.
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You are not eating ice cream on Hallelujah Boulevard with God.
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I've heard all kinds of silly stuff.
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We cannot.
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We cannot fathom.
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The presence of Almighty God.
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And that's what this man.
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In a sense understood.
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I know who I am.
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Before God.
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And so I can't lift my eyes.
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I can't lift my hands.
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I beat my breast.
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And I say God.
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Have mercy.
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The word mercy.
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It's actually a.
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Word.
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Which references the mercy seat.
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Which is where propitiation was made.
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And if you don't know what propitiation is.
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It is simply this.
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God.
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Has a just and holy wrath against sin.
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Propitiation is the satisfying of that wrath.
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And so in a sense what the.
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Publican is saying.
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Is God.
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Propitiate for me.
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Be satisfied.
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On my behalf for my sins.
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Have mercy.
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I don't deserve it, but have mercy.
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Have mercy on me.
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The sinner.
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The word.
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Sinner in your English Bible says a sinner.
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But when I was reading this in the Greek and I saw it and I and it jumped right off the page.
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I looked at it.
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He doesn't say a sinner.
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He says have mercy on me.
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The.
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Sinner.
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I even went and looked it up.
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To make sure I wasn't ascribing something that was untrue in many, many.
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Commentators have noted this when the when the gospel writer writes this, he does not say a sinner.
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He says the sinner.
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And you say, why would he identify himself as the sinner? Because that's who he knew he was.
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He was the chief of sinners.
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He wasn't putting himself in league with other men.
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He wasn't putting himself on a scale with other men.
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He wasn't saying I'm one sinner among many.
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Before God, I am the chief of sinners.
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Before God, I am broken.
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Before God, I am the sinner.
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This was a broken man.
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Bringing nothing of his own goodness to the king.
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Throwing himself at the mercy of almighty God.
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And therefore, we have two declarations that come.
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Jesus said this man.
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The tax collector, the publican, this man.
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Went home justified.
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Justified means.
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That he had been declared righteous by God.
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He came to the temple, a desperate, excommunicated, unrighteous sinner.
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And he went home a saint of almighty God.
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God.
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Justified the sinner.
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By the declaration, you are righteous.
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But I want to tell you something that really bothers me about this.
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I am not bothered that this man went home justified.
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I am thankful.
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I exalt in the fact that this man went home justified.
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I'm excited.
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Because that means that anyone who names the name of the Lord.
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Anyone who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Anyone who comes in repentance and faith.
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Can be justified in the same way.
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If you are a broken person in this morning.
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If you think there's no way you can be saved.
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That's what this man felt like.
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But God saved him and he can save you.
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That is the promise of the gospel.
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You are not too far away.
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You have not strayed too far.
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You are not in a position where you cannot be saved.
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God can save to the uttermost.
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Anyone who draws near unto him through Jesus Christ.
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So having said that though.
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Here's my fear.
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The publican went home.
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Justified.
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But the Pharisee.
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Went home satisfied.
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He had done his religious duty.
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He was proud.
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Of his religious accomplishments.
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He realized not the weight of his sin.
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Nor his need of repentance.
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He was satisfied with himself.
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And that was his undoing.
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My question to you this morning.
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Are you going to go home justified in Christ? Or satisfied in yourself? Thankful that you did your religious duty for the day.
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Thankful that we didn't keep you past lunch.
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Thankful that we preached just long enough to get you interested.
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But not too long to make you bored.
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Or did you come with a broken heart today? Psalm 51, 17.
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The sacrifices of God are a broken heart.
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A broken and contrite heart.
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God will not despise.
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On Reformation Sunday.
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We're confronted with the truth that there is only one gospel.
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The gospel is that we are saved by grace alone.
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Having been justified by faith alone.
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And the work of Christ alone.
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It was Luther's recognition of his own sinful heart.
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That forced him to realize that wonderful truth.
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And my question to you this morning is.
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Have you seen in your own heart.
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The wickedness that resides.
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And have you come to truly know.
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That there is no hope for you.
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Outside of Jesus Christ.
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Because if you are still holding on to any shred of righteousness.
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If you're still holding on to any fig leaf of righteousness.
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You will not go home.
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Justified.
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Today.
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Let us pray.
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Father I thank you for this opportunity.
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To preach your word.
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Lord may it be.
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That in the preaching of the word that we all be moved.
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To understand that there is salvation in no other.
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For there is no other name under heaven given among men.
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By which we must be saved.
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Except the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Lord I know that it is so easy for us.
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All to want to bring our own.
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Justifying words.
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Our own justifying thoughts.
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Our own self righteousness.
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And yet your word tells us.
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That he who exalts himself will be humbled.
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And he who humbles himself will be exalted.
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Lord may it be.
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That you humble us before the foot of the cross.
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Make us desperate for Christ today.
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May it be that there be no question.
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That our salvation comes not from anything that we have done.
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But fully and completely and only.
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By faith in Christ alone.
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In his name.
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Amen.