WWUTT 2458 The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14)

The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector is a famous parable in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus tells it to those who trusted in themselves, believing that their works made them righteous, and those people also treated others with contempt.

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Reading Luke 18:9-14 and the Point of the Parable

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Luke, we come back to chapter 18. Today, we read one of those famous parables that are unique to Luke's Gospel. I think this is the third of the three that are most famous from this Gospel and only found in Luke.

It's Luke 18 verses 9 through 14, the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Hear the word of the Lord. He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 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.

I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. There are some out there that like to say that Jesus never actually preached justification by faith alone and not by our works.

But right here, he most certainly does. This is the parable, in fact, that I go to when it comes to show me a teaching of Jesus where he preached justification by faith. Okay, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, because the tax collector merely humbles himself before God and asks for forgiveness.

And he is justified. Whereas the Pharisee, by all of his wonderful works, gets nothing. So let's come back to it here in verse nine, where Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.

Once again, as we come into a parable, it's being said to us right away, here's the point. Here's what Jesus is speaking into when he shares this parable. That was like the one that we looked at yesterday, the parable of the persistent widow.

It starts with Jesus saying, or at least Luke telling us that Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to lose heart. So that's going to be the point of the parable.

That we ought always to be devoted to prayer and not lose heart, no matter what may happen in the midst of our circumstances. Now, that parable was given in light of the things that were read at the end of chapter 17 concerning the coming of the kingdom and the coming of the son of man.

But even this parable here, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector could still be given in the same context. There are those that think to themselves, I'm going to be just fine on that day.

The day of the Lord, when it comes, yeah, because look how righteous I am. Look at all the things that I have done. And they will boast in their works and their accomplishments, thinking that they're all right.

Remember the way the parable ended yesterday as we looked at it, the parable of the persistent widow. Jesus asked this question, when the son of man comes, will he find faith in the earth? Now, of course we know he will.

He will come back for his disciples. The saints will be taken up with the Lord when he appears. So there will be faithful people in the earth. No question about that. But Jesus asks that question to put it upon the disciples that they would be faithful and that they would hold true to the very end.

That when Jesus returns, he finds them faithful and working servants. The Lord is patient, not wanting any to perish, any of his elect to perish, but all to come to repentance. So even those saints that may fall into sin, God is patient that they would repent and come back to the path of righteousness.

So right after Jesus saying that, when the son of man comes, will he find faith in the earth? That it's as if these Pharisees would have responded by saying, yeah, look at me. I'm the faithful in the earth right here.

But they trust in themselves. Hence why verse nine begins, he told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Now, I encounter this kind of thing all the time.

In fact, I don't know that a week has gone by. In my years of pastoral ministry that I have not encountered this in some fashion. Somebody who is treating me with contempt, trusting in themselves and in their own righteousness.

I mean, whenever I do evangelism, there's somebody that is going to oppose anything that I say about them being a sinner in need of a savior. I'm just fine. I do good. Do you think that you're a good person?

Yeah, sure. I mean, I'm not Hitler, right? As long as I don't get that bad, then I must be all right. Although there's really a strange and startling, frightening turn that's happening in our culture today, where more and more people are starting to think Hitler was not that bad that I've not yet encountered this in evangelism.

But I'm wondering how long it's going to be before I ask somebody a question like this and they're they're going to say, well, Hitler was really not a bad guy. I haven't encountered that yet. But yeah, who knows?

That could be around the corner. The way that things change in the culture being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. That's the way the culture goes. But, you know, if I encounter a Mormon, they think that they're righteous by their works.

If I talk to a Muslim, they think they're righteous by their works. If I talk to a Roman Catholic. Yeah, they think I'm preaching heresy because I'm saying you're saved by grace through faith in Christ alone and not by your works.

And what do they want to be able to boast in their works? And yet, although a Roman Catholic or an Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, though they may boast in their works, they have no confidence in their works.

I mean, the Bible tells us we have no confidence in our works. Jesus is saying it here, even in this particular parable. The Roman Catholics and the Orthodox know that they have no confidence in their works because it's built into their religion that you cannot be certain of your salvation.

And if you are certain of your salvation, well, then you're wrong. You're doing something wrong. There was a comment that I even posted recently from a Catholic on X who said something to the effect of pray for those people who think that they are saved for they are deceived.

I mean, there are people who think they are saved, but they're deceived. Among them, many Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. But again, it's built into the religion that you cannot even trust in your works.

Faith is not enough and you can't trust in your works for salvation. So everything is a mystery. Who knows whether I'm going to get there or not? I even played a clip from a Roman Catholic. Oh, the place kicker from the Kansas City Chiefs.

His name escapes me now, but he delivered a commencement speech at a Catholic school. And he said in that commencement speech that after he and his wife had done all of these things as faithful Catholics, he hopes that he's going to get to go to heaven.

And that's just very, that's a very sad state to be in as a child of God. Our father wants us to be in mystery as to whether or not we're actually his children and whether or not we're going to come home to live where he lives.

What loving father would be that way toward his children? God absolutely wants us to know. 1 John 5, 13, I have written these things to you that you may know that you have eternal life. We can confidently know that we have the promise of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God in glory through faith in Jesus Christ.

It's looking to Christ, not ourselves, not our works, looking at him and humbling ourselves before him. That in Christ Jesus, we know our security is sure. I mean, when the Bible says, like in Ephesians 1, we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit.

Can you break the seal of God? Be certain of the salvation that you have in Christ. He is not a weak God to save. He is mighty to save. And he will lose none whom he means to save. Jesus saying in John 10, no one will snatch them from my hand.

And we can have that confidence even in what we read here in this parable. And in fact, if you are trusting in your works and believing what you have done is your security for salvation. Well, I hope this convicts your heart because Jesus very plainly says you can't trust yourself to be justified.

He says this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and yet they treated others with contempt. I mean, there's a warning there for all of us, and I'll get to it here in a moment.

We all need to be aware that any one of us can have this attitude of contempt toward others who don't believe the same way that we do. So let me continue. Verse 10, two men went up into the temple to pray, one, a Pharisee and the other, a tax collector.

Now, this is common to most parables, of course, that you have two unnamed men, whoever the figures, the characters are in the parable, they're often unnamed. And this goes back to something that I said in chapter 16 regarding the story or the account of the rich man and Lazarus.

And I said, this was true. This was not a parable, though it's often called a parable, because here you've got people's names mentioned, and that's never the case with any other parable outside of that one.

So I believe that to be a true account where Jesus is talking about the rich man and the tax collector. But here, this is a parable. And perhaps this has happened in some capacity, but as Jesus is telling it in the presence of those who are listening, these are two men who are unnamed, who serve by way of example.

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. And again, tax collectors, very unpopular in Jerusalem and in Judea. A tax collector was a Jew, but someone who had partnered with the Romans was in league with the Gentiles.

And so for the rest of the Jews, they look at those guys as traitors. And many of the tax collectors turned out to be crooked as well, because they would cheat and extort, take a little bit of extra than just the taxes they were supposed to collect, and then they would keep it for themselves.

We're going to learn about one such crooked tax collector when we get to chapter 19, a guy by the name of Zacchaeus, who, of course, repented. But nonetheless, he was one of those guys who had cheated people out of their money.

So because that was the way tax collectors were known to deal, they were regarded with great disgust. And so here is this person that the Pharisee certainly would have looked upon with contempt, and he does so in his prayer.

Verse 11, the Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you that I'm not like him. I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even like this tax collector. Now tell me, is this Pharisee humble at all in his attitude before God?

I mean, it is laughably arrogant, and it may be an exaggeration. Just like we had seen in the previous parable, there was that unjust judge who said he even admitted himself that I neither fear God nor respect man.

Well, how many people do you know that would outright say something like that? I don't fear God and I don't respect man. So he was a caricature of an unjust judge. This may be a caricature of an arrogant, prideful Pharisee.

There may not be Pharisees that pray exactly like this, but Jesus is calling it out in the parable to draw out the attitude of their heart. Surely there were Pharisees listening to this that would have been enraged by what Jesus said because they're feeling exposed.

That has been the attitude of their heart, though they may never actually pray those words, but here Jesus attributes it to them. They pray, God, I thank you that I'm better than other people. I am not like anybody else.

I'm not like an extortioner. I'm not unjust. I follow the law and I do justice. And as I said with the previous parable, it's likely that the widow ended up in that situation asking for justice because the Pharisees had devoured her house and her property.

So even though the Pharisee is boasting in himself about how just he is, it's only in his own eyes. All of this boastfulness is righteousness in his own eyes, not righteousness before God. I'm not an extortioner.

I'm not unjust. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not even like this tax collector. Instead, what does the Pharisee do? I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all I get. You know, it's important for us to do righteousness.

It is important. The apostle Paul talking about in Romans chapter six, this is where I've been preaching lately. I just finished up chapter six this past weekend on the podcast. You've only heard me finish up chapter five.

So the podcast is a few weeks back compared to where I'm actually at in the sermons. But I just finished up chapter six, and it's there in Romans six, where Paul says to submit your members, the members of your body to God as instruments for righteousness and not as instruments for unrighteousness.

So we do need to do good. You need to put off anger and sexual immorality and greed and any bitterness or wrath that you may have toward other people, any of these things. We have to put all of that off.

And we need to pursue love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, fruit of the spirit. We need to pursue those things. We need to grow in brotherly love for one another, building each other up.

We need to do charity toward others, showing kindness to one another in the name of Jesus Christ. I mean, there are good, righteous things that we need to do, even praying, as we read about in the previous parable, even fasting as a part of your prayer life and meditation before.

God.

It is a good thing to fast. But as Jesus said in Matthew chapter six, don't let your righteousness be seen by men like disfiguring their faces to show themselves to be so pious. Oh, look how holy that guy is.

He's really in a fast because he's really devoted to God. No, wash your face and anoint your head so that your fast may not be seen by others, but will be seen by your father in heaven. So fasting is a good thing.

It's a good spiritual discipline, as well as prayer, as well as going to church, as well as giving money to God. I give tithes of all I get, the Pharisee says. That's good. It's good if he would be doing it for the right reason.

He's doing it to boast in himself. Even proclaiming it right here in the hearing of all of the people. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all I get. It is good that we give of our income back to God.

That is a good thing. I don't believe that the New Testament mandates a tithe, a tithe being a tenth that you must give 10 percent. I don't see that in the New Testament. But by no means should you then take that truth and turn it into I don't have to give anything at all.

For, as said in 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9, the Lord loves a cheerful giver. Each one should give as he has decided in his heart to give. It says give. So don't use the whole lack of tithing in the New Testament thing to be an excuse to not give.

We should give, but doing so with the right motives, humbly before God, doing that he would see and he will reward us at our proper time. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all I get. But the tax collector, verse 13, standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but he beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

And what does Jesus say of this man who humbles himself before God in this way, who understands that he is a wretch who deserves nothing, who does not even deserve to be there in God's house, calling upon God's name.

He is so ashamed that he stands far away from everybody else. He's not doing it to be heard by everybody else, and he won't even lift up his eyes to heaven. So he's humble and not wanting to get the attention of others, but also being humble before God.

He won't even lift his eyes and he beats his breast. He is so grieved by the wickedness that is within him. He wants to be cured of this. He wants to be forgiven his sin. He knows that he can do nothing to justify himself.

None of his works, even if he were to give up being a tax collector and give all of his money away to the poor, that would not be enough to justify him. And so he comes before God, not boasting in his works, not to rely on his works, but says to the Lord, be merciful to me.

I'm nothing better than a sinner. And Jesus says of him in verse 14, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. Now, even to the disciples, that would have been a shocking thing because the fact that Pharisees actually looked really good in the eyes of the people, they did do a lot of righteous things.

And so for Jesus to say the Pharisee and all the things that he has done is not justified before God. He is not justified at all, according to what Jesus says here in this parable. It's the one rather who came before God in humility, grieving even over his own sin, knowing that he could do nothing to make himself righteous.

And in saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. He is justified by his faith, not any work that he had done by faith alone. And Jesus says, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. But the one who humbles himself will be exalted, exalted in the sense that we have been lifted up from our low position and seated in the heavenly places with God.

Paul even says that's our reality now in Ephesians chapter one, in Colossians chapter three, that we are seated with Christ in God. There's an already and a not yet to that. Yes, we already have the kingdom of God, and yet we have not fully entered the kingdom of God.

But we have been exalted by faith in Jesus Christ, not by our works, not by ourselves, not by anything that we have done, but because God is merciful to us. Now, let me draw out one more thing here as we wrap this up.

Warning Against Contempt and Pride Among Christians

So again, Jesus says at the start of the parable that he told this to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. And we need to be very careful of this. Every single one of us needs to be careful of this.

No matter what your faith is, whatever denomination you are a part of, whether you're high church or low church. I mean, any one of us have a tendency to look down on other Christians because they don't believe the same way that we do.

And that's something that even as a Reformed Baptist pastor, I have to be mindful about in the way that I do ministry within my own community. Because a lot of the churches in Casa Grande where I minister, they are very immature, very immature.

Of course, any community where I have ever been and been a pastor, the churches have been very immature. Even the best churches are still doing altar calls or being seeker sensitive, or they're into easy believism.

And that's not to say that they're heretical and that no one will ever hear the gospel there, but it's just an extreme lack of maturity. And it's very easy for someone who does preach the word, word for word, who calls out sin and preaches the gospel to look at something like that and say, look how terrible they.

Are.

Look how much better we are. And we can get very prideful because of our maturity, but we shouldn't be. Our maturity is not a cause for boasting over somebody else. Rather, the apostle Paul says in Romans 15, one, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the week and not to please ourselves, but to build up our neighbor for his good, pleasing him and building him up.

And as said in Ephesians four, when the strong are helping to build up the week, the entire body strengthens. And that's what we should be after, that the whole body of Christ would grow together. So be careful about whatever your convictions are, whatever your statement of faith might.

Be.

Hold on to those things. They're all good, but do so with humility so that you may help others and build them up that they may mature in Christ Jesus. And we may all be presented before him together as the bride of Christ in glory.

Let's finish there with prayer. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read. The reminder of this particular parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. And may it remind us not to trust in ourselves, not to think that our works will justify ourselves and also that we would not treat others with contempt.

We're not looking at even our own faith statements and our maturity and our spiritual walk. And then that causes us to look down on others. But we would even approach these things with humility. We don't even deserve the maturity that we have received in Christ Jesus.

And so all that you have given to us and the growth that you have provided, help us to plant and help us to water those who still need it and doing it with a humble heart. Because we don't deserve what we have received that we may show others what they need in Christ Jesus and will come to faith and grow in that faith and live.

It is by grace through faith in Christ alone that we have been justified. And let us continue to preach the message of that gospel to all who need to hear it. It's in Jesus name we pray.

Amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.