Humble Prayer

Please turn your Bible to Luke 18 Luke 18 We'll resume the series

Pastor Tim's doing Genesis next week But here we're today.

We're doing Luke 18 9 through 14 Which is known as the Pharisee and the tax collector sometimes called the

Pharisee and the publican That can be found on well, actually, I'm not sure which page that's found on the pew

Bible, but Hopefully you can find it when you have that please stand for the reading of God's Word Luke 18 beginning in verse 9

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 his eyes up 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

You may be seated dear

Heavenly Father We thank you for your word We ask that you would guide us by your word that you would show to us the glories of your gospel in Jesus Christ you would

Help us to understand the great salvation that you have given in him in Jesus name. Amen See that this is a parable about trusting in self

This is something that exists in every one of the world's religions some kind of trust in self your right standing with God with your maker

Comes through yourself and what you do This is something where Christianity is different In Christianity, you're right standing with God.

God does not come through what you do. It comes through what Christ has done for you Now this is the case even with those religions that have some sort of Mimicry of the gospel

They might have something else that you were supposed to put your trust in some kind of leader some kind of thing

But ultimately because those things are no sure anchors for the soul like Jesus Christ is it will ultimately end up devolving into a trust of self

This is also true for those who? For those who have no

Religion in the formal sense of it who have non religion, right? This is true of atheists of agnostics

They might say well, I don't need to be right before my maker because I don't have a maker But everyone believes about Believes they must be in the right, you know, they have a notion of right and wrong they have some way that they make themselves right and they think it's right to do some things and not to do other things and So this is even more true in a way of them that door their rightness comes from Themselves, and this is a pervasive thing that invades into people's minds now

What this passage is about is not just that problem of self -righteousness a problem of trusting in self

But it is the question of how does one make themselves right with their maker? How does one be right with God?

Especially as they come into his presence as we see that the Pharisee and the tax collector have come into the presence of God How do they leave that presence as one who is justified as one who is right with God?

So we see this in the beginning that they come to the temple to pray Now it is a very significant thing to come into the temple of God to come into God's presence in order to pray

I'd considered a singing The hymn that we have in our hymnal that has the words of Psalm 15

Psalm 15 I'll go ahead and read it for you. Oh Lord who shall sojourn in your tent?

That's in this temple who shall dwell on your holy hill. It's Mount Zion. That's where God dwells

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart Who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor?

Nor takes up a reproach against his friend and whose eyes a vile person is despised But who honors those who fear the

Lord? Who swears to his own hurt and does not change? Who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent?

He who does these things shall never be moved and so the question is

If one is to be blameless to come into the presence of God, who is the blameless law in? What should we?

What should we? be trusting in Now who is this parable directed to says he told this parable to some who trusted in themselves

Now the discourse at this point has bounced back and forth a few times You see that this concern has started way back in chapter 15

It says in 15 1 now the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to hear him and the

Pharisees and the scribes Grumbled saying this man received sinners and eats with them So he's been concerned about this contempt of Pharisees towards tax collectors all the way since chapter 15 but it's going back and forth between him addressing the

Pharisees and then he says to his disciples in chapter 16 1 and then he speaks to the

Pharisees and And later on in 16 and then he speaks to the disciples again and so at this point

He is gone from speaking to the Pharisees to speaking to the disciples and now rather than switching back to the

Pharisees We don't see we don't see that clean transition that we had seen before then he said the Pharisees then he said to the disciples

Etc. What we see is then he says then he said to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous

And so what we have here is not a switch of the audience but a narrowing down of the audience So he is still talking to disciples

But he's talking to those disciples who trust in themselves So this is a danger of disciples.

These are those who have left the Pharisees or the or the ranks of the

Pharisees or Some other group, but they still have the mindset of a

Pharisee Okay, so he tells this parable about a Pharisee to those who are not

Pharisees But have the mindset of a Pharisee and this is especially This is especially concerning For those who identify as Christians for those who regard themselves as disciples of Christ Because you have a gospel because you know that you are saved through the work of Christ not through your own works

And so the idea that you would be guilty of having this mindset might seem very foreign to you

But this is the case of many Many do not realize that even though they have joined the ranks of disciples

They have the same mindset of those who are no disciples at all This was the case when

I lived in Virginia, right? It's very frequent in the Bible belt. You run to a lot of people who

Who identify as Christians but really have the mindset of the world that their right standing is coming from themselves

It's not coming from God It's not coming from an alien righteousness that has been purchased by Jesus Christ It is it is coming from themselves.

And so it is especially dangerous For those who are among the ranks of disciples to be deceived into thinking they believe one thing

But then with all of their thoughts and actions and behavior and the way they treat themselves the way they view themselves the way they

View others with contempt for the for the opposite to be true that they have not actually left the world's religion

But have embraced it within the confines of the disciples So there's an exercise

I'd like to do with you like you to think of someone who? Who because of their actions because of their the way they live their life has less righteousness inherently than you do

Okay, take a take a moment. Look around, you know find somebody. Okay, think about somebody who has less righteousness than you do

All right. Now if you've thought of someone, you know, this sermon is for you. Okay, because Bible is clear.

There's there's none good. No, not one. No one has any kind of inherent righteousness Now there's some of you who knew what

I was doing, but you still thought of someone right? This is for you to this mindset is so it encroaches it it sneaks in While we are unaware

It is very It's something that we should be constantly vigilant about constantly on guard about To ward off this mindset that our right standing comes from Ourselves rather than from Jesus Christ rather than from that alien righteousness that he gives to his people

And so here they are These people who have come up to the temple come up Maybe even with psalm 15 in mind who is it that can approach

God's presence and you see the tax collector and the Pharisee Have both come one stands further off the other closer much more confident that he is one who is able to come into the presence of God and you see the the

Righteousness of the tax collector Says I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get

Okay, so he fasts twice a week, you know, they're apart from Apart from what we see around the

Day of Atonement, there's no particular fast commanded in Scripture Someone fasting twice a week is really really might seem like they're going above and beyond what

God has required And on top of that he says I give tithes of all that I have you see elsewhere

Pharisees tithe on mint and dill and cumin and the idea is not that this is beyond what God has required

But that others would neglect they would tithe on big things and neglect tithing on small things

But the Pharisees cared enough they tithed on small things as well And the Pharisees are those who really are

Following God's commands to a degree beyond what most people do, you know They have devoted themselves to right beliefs to right actions to right thoughts to right worship

And you see that on a number of things, you know, they aren't like the Samaritans. They have the right temple.

They have the right priests They aren't like Other Jews who have loose morals you see even

Herod One of the most prominent figures in their society had taken his brother's wife They don't have

Loose ethics around marriage like that. Although Jesus has taken them to task for some of their marriage ethics in comparison their marriage ethics are better than many and They and they have right doctrine.

They believe in the angels. They believe in the resurrection Unlike Sadducees the

Pharisees Have on all these counts. They're following God's laws better than all those around them and The tax collector you see the tax collector and you should just you are supposed to as you read this parable

No, Jesus knows his audience knows what a tax collector is, right? Someone who has sided with Rome and Is assisting

Rome and oppressing the Jewish people? Right essentially acting as a traitor in a way Taking money from them.

They have a reputation for taking an extra cut Right so that they can make themselves rich and no doubt this

Pharisee if he's coming in with this kind of guilt has engaged in all the practices that people would expect a tax collector to have engaged in and So he humbles himself before the

Lord and the expectation that you would have If you see this you see this one who's really dedicated himself to following God's law

You see this other one who is not dedicated himself at all to following God's law

Not until this moment anyway, and you would expect that the one who's going to come away right with his maker right with God It's the one who had dedicated himself to following God's law

But just the opposite is the case It is the tax collector who comes away justified and Jesus says

I tell you this man went down to his house Justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled though the one who humbles himself

Will be exalted now. This is a very similar statement to what

Jesus had made a second ago and at the end of Luke 17 He said whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it

But whoever loses life will keep it and then he said the an identical thing back with the parable of the marriage feast

He said whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted

And so this is the question for you today, and this might be more relevant than you are even aware He is telling this parable of two people who have come up on Mount Zion who have come up to the temple

Okay, he's telling this to people who are not on Mount Zion who are not at the temple All right, where are you right now?

Hebrews 12 22 says for you have come is speaking of Christian worship for you have come to Mount Zion to the city of the

Living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels and festal gathering the Bible explains

That in the New Testament in New Testament worship, he has destroyed that physical temple in 70

AD. That is that's gone Where God dwells now? His presence that is that is here.

God is omnipresent. You know, he's he's everywhere in one sense, but he is With us in a special way to receive our worship

When when the Saints are gathered together you are right now on Mount Zion.

Okay, you right now are Experiencing a spiritual unity with Saints Across the globe with those

Saints who have passed and even angels have come into the presence of this place To experience this worship with us

Okay This parable that Jesus is telling is more applicable to you right now in this moment than it is to you when you read this in your bedroom

This parable that Jesus is telling you right now is more applicable to you in this moment than it is to even his audience

He's speaking to because you have come to Mount Zion. And so you need to ask yourself When I leave this place when

I come down from this mountain Will I come away justified right with my maker or will

I not and so let's look at these two That's the task before us we need to look at these two and see well if it's not the

Pharisees dedication to the law of God and all these things that Had made him right with God and the if that didn't work for the

Pharisee But yet the tax collector who's not done. These things comes away justified. What is the tax collector done?

Was the Pharisee done? So let's consider these one by one First we'll spend most of our time on the tax on the

Pharisee So consider Yeah, consider

What the Pharisee does right the Pharisee? He stands proud

He speaks of the particular things he has done and he gives thanks to God for who he is

Now one one conclusion that many people make when they read this passage is that it would be wrong to thank

God for who you are Okay, it is it is not wrong to thank God for who you are Let me read several passages to this effect

Acts 17 26 and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth

Having determined a lot of periods in the boundaries of their dwelling place God has decided where you live.

God has decided all your steps Psalm 16 6 says the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.

Indeed. I have a beautiful inheritance Okay, so David is credited in God with with where he is

Even what he is Psalm 139 16 says your eyes saw my own my unformed substance in your book were written

Every one of them the days that were formed for me when as yet there were none of them

Ephesians 2 10 talks about him preparing our steps beforehand for us those good works that we might walk in them

Okay, God has prepared all these things beforehand. He has he has done much for us He is the one who justifies.

He's the one who sanctifies. He is the one who makes holy He is the one who is who protects from temptation

Okay The cure for this is not to not thank God for who you are right and to not thank

God For your holiness that would not be a cure to this that would be far far worse Okay, so the problem is not thanking

God For your present situation right or thank you God for who you are. The problem is that is not what the

Pharisee is doing What is the what is the Pharisee doing? What's his confusion here?

The first part first problem here is he doesn't know what to thank God for it, right? I said God sanctifies, you know,

God makes holy God justifies. He makes you right with him God protects from temptation.

Are these any of the things that the Pharisee is thanking him for? No, he's thanking him for that which has not come from God, but that which has come from himself

Okay, he's focused on himself Rather than on these things being origin for God.

He may phrase it in the nature name of of thankfulness But he's not really being thankful.

He's not He's not thanking God for the things that God has done he's not recognized what

God has done Okay So the first thing is he doesn't know what to be thankful for The second thing is he is doesn't know who to be thankful for To he doesn't know who to be thankful to.

Okay, so It may look as though he's thanking God once again, but is he really? the

The way the ESV translates us. It says the Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus Something you might be using a different translation.

You might see it said a little differently Most literally it says something along the lines of to himself.

He stand and prayed So for example the Nazby So let me say that again to himself.

He stands and prays. All right, so the Nazby translates that as Standing and praying to himself he says

Okay, the implication even in the way this is written is that he's not really praying to God He is praying to himself almost right?

He's saying thank you God But his his posture is toward himself Okay, he's so he's not really being thankful to God.

He's being thankful to himself in Luke 17 In Luke 17 verse 7

It said well any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field

Come at once and recline at table Will he not rather say to him prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink and afterward

You will eat and drink Does he thank it the servant because he did what was commanded so you also when you have done all that was commanded say we are

Unworthy servants we have only done. What was our duty? This man is not one who sees himself as a servant who has only done his duty

He sees himself as one who has gone beyond that right? And so his thankfulness is not truly to God it is to himself and that's even the way the

Greek is phrased that that thankfulness Is to himself and you see this all the time you see people

Thank God who are not really thanking God or you people see people talk in the language of Thanksgiving who are not truly thankful You see this every year at Thanksgiving, right?

You've got Atheist co -workers people who don't even believe in God they go They celebrate

Thanksgiving. They talk about how thankful they are. Okay, who are they thanking? Who are they thinking they're using the language of Thanksgiving there?

The the implication is that they're thankful but they're not thankful the way that thanks is really supposed to be given given to God What are they thankful to themselves maybe some people around them okay, so people can use the language of Thanksgiving to God and not mean it at all and This is a this is a very frequent thing that happens now because of all this

The Pharisee is prideful because of all his misunderstanding because he is he's not sure what he should be giving.

Thanks for he doesn't know Who he should be giving. Thanks to he is prideful There's a lot of ways that we could break down His misunderstanding the first thing is he is understanding his misunderstanding about the standards of God, right?

What are the what are the standards of God the standards of God are written in his law? It is perfection now

Not only that but God has now given us Jesus Christ so that we may know even in human example what that perfection looks like But Jesus says in Matthew 5 48 you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect The requirement of God is perfection, but this is not the the standard that he is

Comparing himself to he is saying the opposite. He's saying I'm not like other men

Extortioners unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector. Okay, he does not he does not

Compare himself to God's standard. He's comparing himself to a made -up standard of others.

I mean people do this all the time This is the the standard way people think about it. They think about averages They think about how they're doing compared to averages, you know, a lot of people when they

When they consider whether or not they're right with God Some do it explicitly thinking that you know, it's all weighed out in the balance as long as I've got more

Good actions and bad actions more good than bad. It will work out for me Other people would reject this but in the way they act

You can tell that it's true. You know, they think that well as long as you're trying your hardest or something like that And so he does not he's confused he he misunderstands

God's standard now one thing that I think would be really helpful for people and even for this

Pharisee is Even if you were to do that kind of comparison, even if you weren't to compare yourself against the perfect law of God Because you know,

I understand and even God understands in sending Jesus Christ He understands that there is something that is helpful and good about making

Human to human comparisons, right? if you are going to compare yourself to other people first of all, obviously you should be comparing yourself to Jesus Christ, but It would be wise of you not just to compare yourself to those around you but to compare yourself to Saints in ages past you know once you start doing that and you realize the

Those things that were held highly when and the righteousness the at least in the you know outward obeying

God's law of previous times Compared to now you'll see many areas where you lacked it

You wouldn't just looking at your peers right and the same is true for the Pharisee and you see this throughout throughout

Scripture You know, they consider themselves, right? They're the ones who who are on the side of the prophets and Jesus Stephen he compares them to the prophets

He says you're the ones who would stone the prophets, right? So there's If there is going to be some utility in comparing yourself to others then do not limit yourselves to just those around you

Okay, spread spread farther than that, but then of course never to the exclusion of God's perfect standard now

The other thing he's confused about is the purpose of the law like not only what God's standard is But what is the purpose of the law?

So he's using the law as a way of making himself feel better right feel better about himself. What's the law doing?

It's popping him up. He's saying I checked off this box. I checked off that box I checked off that box and it's building him up and up and up Right.

That is not the purpose of all purpose laws Well, one of its uses is the opposite right there

Traditionally, there are three uses of the law One is as a curb right to restrain evil Second is a mirror to show you who you are in your need of Jesus Christ The third is as a guide to tell you how you ought to live

Okay So those are three use of law now that second use of the law as a mirror is to show you your need

For God's mercy right is to show you who you are in every way that you lack He is using it as the opposite this is not a mirror designed to show him his faults

It's a mirror designed to show him what he has right? It's a rose colored mirror, right?

He's looking in a rose colored glass and seeing himself beautifully So he misunderstands the second use of the law he misunderstands merit that he would be able to Buy his actions achieve some kind of merit now

There's different kinds of merit. A lot of these are terms from Roman Catholic theology, but There's one term that's con dying merit

Which is something that in and of itself truly is that much meritorious like the sacrifice of Christ really is that meritorious?

There's another kind of merit. That's congruent merit where? Okay, it's not it's not actually

It's it's not quite enough but it's in that trajectory so someone who's trying their best right

They might not have done it But you know you go ahead and give them a free pass because they were trying their best and it was congruent with what with What God wanted right so there's these different ideas of merit where people say well, maybe

I'm not doing all of it Maybe there's some grace that needs to be involved, but you know there's still there's still this implicit idea of merit

There's no such thing and the Bible is our actions being meritorious in that way The the only thing that comes close to that is the reformed notion of pact of merit

Okay, pact of merit is the idea that through God's Covenant. He has counted that which is not meritorious for Rewards you know eternally right and so that is when we do good works as prompted by the

Spirit those works are not Are not perfectly good right there corrupt. They're mixed with our own corruptions our own imperfect desires, etc but God in Jesus Christ accepts them and Rewards them okay, but none of this has to do with our right standing before God Okay, first of all it's not it's not meritorious in any way beyond his covenant and secondly

It's not something that gives us right standing with him. That was that was as regards rewards Right so he misunderstands merit, and then he misunderstands

God's grace Grace is a gift it is something from God is something that is that is needed because we have nothing to offer, but once again people often see grace as something that's

Filling in the gaps as something that's necessary, but not sufficient Ephesians 2 8 and 9 says for you've been for by grace you have been saved through faith

This is not your own doing is not of works so that no one can boast all right Not of works so that no one can boast now there are a lot of people out there

Who would say okay? Yes? I would not boast yeah, there's no reason to boast God's grace is enough

But you know I still need to try my hardest right I still need to do something And this is this is the mindset a lot of people have even if they aren't willing to say these things

But a lot of people are willing to say these things I spoke a few months ago with some Jehovah's Witnesses who said exactly this

I said you know this passage isn't talking about Boasting it is talking about having grounds to boast and they said oh yes.

Yes, we would never boast We would never boast, but you know you've got to do your best etc. Etc. Right okay?

So what you're saying is you have grounds for boasting because you did your best, but you wouldn't actually ever say it out loud

Okay, that is not that is not What Ephesians 2 8 9 has in mind what it has in mind is a grace that is sufficient a grace that is completely necessary in all aspects because there's not one iota of What God has required that we are capable of fulfilling and this is the way that we all tend that our minds tend apart from reminding ourselves of the truth of the gospel because we are sinners in a fallen world who

Since a need to make ourselves right and because because of that fault

There's a tendency to reject God a tendency towards sin the tendency of our mind is to not look to the gospel

But look to ourselves. It is a tendency toward delusion I Knew a

I knew a lady once who was under the delusion that she was going to start a theater That's this is something that she could do she had no experience in the arts no experience in theater

But she just had her mind This is what she was going to do and she was so delusional that she started cutting up all her clothes to make costumes

And then after a week or two when she finally woke up from this delusion She found out that she had no clothes just like Adam and Eve in the garden, okay?

This is the kind of delusion where you think one thing you're puffing yourself up with all kinds of delusional ideas

And then you wake up naked one day, and you realize that you are not clothed before your maker And you need perfect righteousness, and you do not have it

There are a lot of problems that come from this this self -righteousness this idea that this righteousness comes from yourself the first one and this is contextually the most

Poignant one there's a lot of things I'm talking about here But the the one that you should be observing most contextually is the notion of powerless prayers this makes your prayers

Powerless there's a connection between this parable in the previous parable. You know you've got The previous parable was about prayer right this being a metaphor for prayer this one is about two people who are praying and He it says in verse 9.

He also told this parable right. There's a there's a connection here these are these are following each other and I've made a comment about the

ESV before this is this is one where I think the ESV does a pretty good job of Trying to show you the connections. There's one place

It could be modified to show you the connections between these two more a lot of the words that are used in here

Depending on which translation you use in Greek. They look very similar. They have similar roots in English They don't necessary so I want to read these two parables again to you and in a way that shows you some of the connections

And he told them a parable this is first one He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart

He said in a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man There was a widow in that city who kept coming and saying to him give justice

Give me justice against my adversary now Give me justice in some translation

That's going to be something like a binge But give me justice is good here because that's that's the root. I want you to see is just just just okay

We might say one who is just as righteous, okay, so these all have to do with righteousness They have to do with the outworkings of righteousness which are vengeance right so justice right here

Give me justice for a while he refused But afterwards he said to himself though I neither fear

God nor respect man yet because this widow keeps bothering me I will give her justice same word So that she will not beat me down by her continual coming and the

Lord said here what the unrighteous judge says right? This is the unjust judge. Okay.

He is unrighteous. He's unjust same same root and Will not

God give justice once again same word to the elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?

I tell you he will give justice same word to them speedily nevertheless when the Son of Man comes

Will he find faith on earth? Okay, so there you see The widow says give me justice

We have an unjust judge, but a God who is just okay Now verse 9 he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous same word, okay?

We could say they were just he also told this parable to some who trust himself that they were just right that they're just of themselves and Treat others with contempt two men went up into the temple to pray one a

Pharisee and the other tax collector The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus God I Thank you that I'm not like other men

Extortioners unjust same word unrighteous unjust Adulterers are 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 made just Rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted

Okay, so, you know, you've been clued in that word just is important. There are only a couple of times here where It's been changed to I think only a couple times where it's been changed to Righteous or where the

ESV has opted for the word righteous because that's the word we tend to use to describe someone's right standing But if you change this with just you see all the times it's talking about justice

This is talking about God granting justice by avenging is talking about him being a just judge compared to an unjust judge

This is talking about People having a status of just being just this is talking about God making people just okay

So this is all about justice is all about righteousness and these are even the same roots Being used here throughout if you were to read this in Greek, okay, so there's a lot of connections here

So what is the first parable about first parable was about? Praying remember and this was coming after the context of Jesus's return

So praying for Christ's return praying for God to send vengeance praying for him to avenge his church Okay, so it's praying for the results of justice that God would give justice that the results of me being having right -standing

With you that that would be made manifest. Okay. What is this one about?

It's about achieving that Justice that right -standing. Okay. So the first parable was about the outworkings the results of right -standing with God This parable is about receiving the right standings with God Okay, so if you are if you've got the self -righteous mindset and you're praying for God to give you justice like the widow did in The previous parable and you're asking for the results of righteousness the results of justice

But you don't know how to pray and ask God for the actual right standing to be justified to have justice

What does that mean for your prayers? Well, if you're asking for the results of justice, but not for the origin of justice, you can't have one without the other right?

It's asking for a second story without having the first story built. I get just it's just not something you can have

So you will have powerless prayers if you allow the mindset of self -righteousness to creep into your life

Secondly, you'll have what you said here that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. You will have contempt now

This could be you know, the more violent kinds of contempt, you know hatred out or could just be viewing people very lowly and In condescendingly, they will treat others with contempt and This would be very natural.

This is very natural if it is the case that God's standard is this low bar and you're meeting it and they are not it is very natural way of thinking it

You can imagine a situation in a workplace where you have Worked really hard to become vice president

But then the owner of the company the CEO whoever he decides to make his son vice president

You know this this guy who's just fresh out of college has no idea what he's doing doesn't even know how to dress and he's

Given that that position you would say hang on I earned that this is just like this is just not right You know, you would you would have reason to feel some kinds of sense of injustice there

If if that premise were true, right if that were God's standard was some lower comparison average standard and then

Naturally the result of that would be that there'd be a lack of unity there'd be a lack of unity in the church because one if you're treating others with contempt right if you're if you have in your mindset, you're better than others and Even if it's not like an outworking hatred, that's how some people think of contempt or if it's just you know

You think less of people this will not result in any kind of unity and it goes both ways to write if you have the self -righteousness mindset and You think that others?

Have a have more right standing with God than you you're going to be on the defensive Okay, so it's not just from from top bottom.

It goes in the other direction, too. It goes from from you know Quote unquote less righteous person to more righteous person that you'd feel the need to be on the defensive and it removes the grounds for unity

Okay. Now on top of on top of contempt for others. It will lead to contempt of self Because as you find yourself trying to live up to these standards and you see that you do not match them

What are you going to what are you going to do when you don't match them anymore? Now some people some people go ahead and adjust the standards, you know

They start slipping below these standards that they've set in their mind. They say well Maybe the standards are a bit lower than I thought

Right, but most people are I think most people maybe not but a lot of people are more consistent

A lot of people are smarter than that They realize that the standards are fixed and when they go below that then suddenly they have contempt for themselves

They think little of themselves. They even hate themselves So, of course with that comes joylessness

Right, how are you going to be joyful if you don't have something to thank God about we see the The Pharisee wrongly thanking

God really just thanking himself Right if you've got if you don't have the right kind of thankfulness

How can you have the right kind of joy if you don't understand what goodness you truly do have

And you don't have some kind of real goodness Then all you have is fake goodness and you're gonna have fake joy. You're not going to have real joy and this this tends toward Tends towards joylessness those who have self -righteousness tend towards joylessness

You know this gets clinical eyes as in older days It got clinical eyes as melancholy today as depression

Right a lot of a lot of people are trying to help someone solve something that can be only solved with the gospel

Right because as you see yourself Not meeting the standards You know, you start feeling contempt

You start feeling joyless and then you feel like you are meeting them and then later you see that you aren't etc, etc You know what's happening there?

Yeah, what's happening there? It's It is self -righteousness at work. And so of course with that You're going to have an unstable assurance right your assurance of your own salvation

Is going to change depending on what where you are meeting that bar or not? Maybe you'll feel good this day because you're meeting

God's standards and today the next day you're not meeting God's standards And so you'll lose your assurance.

You know, I had a experience like this in Analogous experience in college, you know,

I was always good student But then you your first year you start taking classes where you know, I was in computer science

So I'm learning how to program sort of for the first time not familiar with any of the tools Don't know what I'm doing not able to get projects in on time, etc.

Suddenly. I'm like on academic probation I've always been a really good student, right? And so I'm going from oh, yeah,

I'm great. I'm great And then next oh, man, I might get kicked out of college, you know, and then the next next semester.

Okay, I'm doing great And you just see you know You've got the standard that's about here and some people can meet it and some people can't you watch yourself bounce around on that?

And so you don't even know if you're cut out for it, right? You don't know whether or not you fit in the kingdom of God. You'll have an unstable assurance and Then on top of that you will have a

Limited understanding of God's law because this is what's happened This is what happens is if you see the standard is something that you can accomplish

You will Be on the defensive against any raising of that standard any raising of that standard is going to be a serious threat to you

Okay, Psalm 119 verse 96 Says I've seen a limit to all perfection

But your commandment is exceedingly broad All right What that means is, you know, all things have some in but God's law is just pervasive it it speaks to everything right, it covers everything and there is so much to learn and you can you can spend your days studying

God's law and not know all the ways that it affects your life and so Ball the

God's law is something that ought to be studied it ought to be appreciated But if you have this this self -righteous attitude

You are going to be Pretty resistant to learning more about God's law because that's going to threaten your status of being right with him that's going to status threaten your own righteousness and I've seen this plenty of times and people who

I speak to about ethics about the Bible that their concerns

Pretty quickly go from the text to their own righteousness. They say things like oh, well, that would mean that I'm in sin

You're not saying that I'm in sin. Are you or that would mean that my friends in sin, you know There's no way that my friend could be in sin, you know, and they that it becomes more about a personal defense

Than it is about actually understanding God's law and you can see this in a lot of places, you know, you can see for example

Monogamy something that is on one hand, you know, I would argue it's clear in Scripture, right? God Said that the two shall be one flesh.

Okay You see the requirements For officers of the church at first Timothy three imply monogamy.

Okay, you see you see it elsewhere even But there's lots of examples of polygamy in the

Old Testament. There's lots of examples of There's even that one time when when God Tells David that he would have given more wives if he had asked for them, etc

Right, and so if someone really wanted to pursue polygamy, they would have a lot of they would have a lot of Ammo to work with so to speak now.

I think it's I think the matter is clear But why is it that? Evangelicals by and large are just so united on this right?

There's no there's no hesitation over it. I Righteousness, right?

There's no threat to anyone standing of righteousness. We already live in a culture. That's monogamous. This is very easy to accept

Okay, there's no there's no danger here. Okay, but now you look at other things and I've I've had

Numerous conversations with self -professed Evangelicals about whether or not sex before marriage is okay something that Scripture is more clear on right even more clear on and and but you have more evangelicals at least self -professed evangelicals who

Who would affirm? Yes, monogamy is right. Monogamy is biblical and then deny that fornication before marriages is

Sorry deny that you must be chased before marriage, right and so what's going on there? Will that be a threat to their righteousness to be a threat to their friends righteousness?

and so they get on the defensive and The matter here was not about how clear Scripture was about it, right their ability to evaluate

God's law and consider what it actually says the ease with which they accepted one commandment the difficulty with which they accepted the other commandment are coming from The fact that their righteousness is being threatened and I would

I would argue this is a case for a lot of things, you know I'll just throw a few out there and don't get hung up on the examples, but also argue the

Sabbath family worship, etc Right, it's got it's got a lot of the same kind of features where okay It's something built in creation you have an explicit verse, but most of its implicit in Scripture, right?

these are things where people's ability to To consider the matter a lot of times.

It's not coming from you know, just a hermeneutical considerations, right? It's coming from the fact that well, is this a threat to me?

Do I need to be on guard about it? The one who is the one who is free from a self -righteous mindset is able to consider

God's law with all kinds of freedom There's no there's no threat that happens If you conclude that something is a requirement of God that you had in the previous day, right?

There's no threat and so you can you can do that fearlessly You can read his word fearlessly without being on guard for it but a lot of people are on guard as they read

God's word because they they're scared about what they'll find and then of course, oh, let me

I I've hammered this point for a bit, but let me give you one analogy Alcohol has medicinal uses, right?

Paul mentions that to Timothy take a little wine for a stomach You can use it to induce labor, right?

So there there are medicinal uses for alcohol now. I'm sure they have better Better methods now, you know

Civil War soldiers Would you know drink a lot of alcohol in order to you know, numb themselves for a surgery or for an amputation?

Right. So there are these different medicinal uses of alcohol now Let's say someone embraces all those because hey, you know, it makes me feel good in the process, but then you introduce the topical use of Alcohol right like on a wound and it hurts and they go.

Oh now it's not use it that way Let's use it in ways that make me feel good. Let's not use it in the ways that don't make me feel good

Okay, this is people who can't don't understand the second use of the law Don't understand you are supposed to be looking at a mirror and seeing the problems

You're supposed to be looking in that mirror and seeing the flaws so that you can appreciate Jesus Christ more

The purpose of the mirror is not to puff yourself up, right? It's not to accept. Well these uses I feel better about these uses

I don't okay. It's not like it's not like that You would be a fool if you used alcohol and medicine medicinally for it by ingesting it and not by topical things

Also, right to accept some uses reject others, right you would that would be a very foolish

And then of course the final the final outcome of self -righteousness if someone is not just Getting their eyes distracted from Jesus is something we all struggle with that kind of self -righteousness, but if someone is truly

Truly has this mindset has made their way among the disciples still has the mindset of a Pharisee It is fires of hell because there is no there's no if you are trusting in yourself

There's no righteousness to be had you will not stand before the Lord your maker Let's consider the tax collector

There's some differences here between the Pharisee and the tax collector So the first one, let me go ahead and read this passage again, but the tax collector standing far off Okay.

So first he's far off right the other the other the Pharisee came near He would not even lift up his eyes to heaven

Okay, so he's not even looking up like the Pharisee was was willing to look up He beat his breast saying

God be merciful to me a sinner Okay, this one comes down justified this is attitudes an attitude of humility.

He comes away justified He comes away being made right with God Okay, God justifies the humble the one who exalts himself will be humbled the one who humbles himself will be exalted

Now God justifies the humble that does not mean that through the work of humbling yourself God says, okay, you've done you've done your 1 %

I'll do my other 99 right like your 1 % was was humility My 99 is to get you the rest of the way that's that's not what's going on when this is being pointed out, you know

Like it says in Ephesians 2 we're saved by grace through faith not of works so that no one can boast

Why is it that? It's not like works come from us and faith does not come from us, right?

I mean both of those are gifts from God. He he prepares the work beforehand that we should walk in it

He grants his faith, but both of these are things that we do, right? We believe with our brains right our minds even our souls.

So I'm not I'm not saying it's just a physical thing we act with our body that the difference between Believing and working is not that well one is coming from us and the other is not

The difference between those two is the essence of faith is to acknowledge that you have nothing good of yourself that even your own

You know, even your own belief is is fraught with With It's not meritorious before the

Lord Right. So this is the difference the difference the idea isn't that well God rewards humility as though it were some kind of good work the difference is that he has chosen to exalt himself by a humble faith that Recognizes that a humble faith is not even does not accomplish anything

Right, like that is not that is not meritorious before the Lord. This is why faith instead of works okay, not because not because of something else but because the essence of this faith is to recognize that you have no merit before the

Lord and So he humbles in that way now This is there's a couple of things that this humility of the fear of the tax collector is not

Okay, first of all, it is not self pity There are a lot of people who will engage in all kinds of woe is me.

I'm a wretched sinner, etc Etc, etc, even in a religious setting even, you know kneeling before God, etc, right and they'll just do this over and over and over again

Engaging in self -pity and they'll never receive the mercy of God. Why? Because they do not anticipate the mercy of God The one that comes to him he wears 11 six

The one who comes to him must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him if you come To him not thinking of him as a merciful

God not believing in his mercy. You will not You will not receive that mercy because you are not

Understanding the nature of the good news that is available in Jesus Christ, which is God's mercy to sinners through him

Okay. So first of all, this is not just uh, this is not just self -pity Okay, this is not just that woe is me.

I'm wretched etc. There is an attendant anticipation of God's mercy that if it is lacking

You won't it won't come full circle right there will not be Yeah, there will not be justification that happens through that and that's what a lot of people do

Right, a lot of people have that woe is me attitude and they don't think of themselves as Pharisees They think of themselves as opposite because outwardly they look like the tax collector right outward

They look like they're they're humbling themselves. They're bowing. They're crying etc, but in their heart

They're more like to attack the Pharisee than they are the tax collector Because they are not anticipating the mercy of God the

Pharisees sitting there saying God's not gonna be merciful to him You know, their heart is more like the Pharisee than tax collector the second thing

Yeah, the second thing that this is not is It is not neglect of God's law

A lot of people look at the Pharisees see how much they cared about the law following it to the letter and they think well I'm not gonna be

Pharisee. I'm gonna neglect God's law. I'm not gonna care about all those details As long as we've got the spirit of the law who cares about the letter of the law?

All right. This is also not this is not the concern In fact, Jesus told the Pharisees before their problem is not that they don't follow the law enough.

It's that they Start it's not that they follow the law too much. It's that they don't follow it enough

He points all all the ways that they fail and so this is not a this is not a neglect of God's law

Trying to not be the Pharisee is not You know deciding that you're not gonna care about the letter of his law

You're gonna you're gonna lower his law and realize that has no importance for me, etc This is also not what being like the tax collector is like, okay, so it is instead a going to God with a

Recognition of his law, you know you looking at God's law holding it as high as you can you know opposite of the

Yeah opposite of the one who would neglect it holding it as high as you can Knowing it full. Well, not not fully as in comprehensively

But but not rejecting anything the law says to you and saying I fall so short

You know look that mirror that second use of law look that mirror dead in the eye Right and see all your imperfections know that and then

Anticipate God's mercy as you go to him Asking for his mercy knowing that he is a merciful

God who has provided full forgiveness in Jesus Christ Okay, this is what this is what is going on.

This is what being like this tax collector looks like It's not neglecting God's law. It's not self -pity okay, it is a recognition of God's law and you're failing and it is a

Anticipation of mercy going to God knowing that he is merciful and we know more than this tax collector do does

We know more about what God has provided for that mercy We know more about the Messiah than he knew right because Jesus had not yet died at this point

So we know that God has provided a perfect sacrifice in Jesus Christ We have no excuse here as we come up to the come up to Zion to pray

Now there are many different There are many different applications that could be made from this, you know, what do you do?

First I'm gonna argue that it would be a very good thing for you Now, I don't know what other kinds of spiritual priorities you have in your life

But I think something that a lot of people have neglected is really trying to understand the law of God Well, I would encourage you to take some steps to understand

God's law better so that you might see yourself more fully in the meter Mirror not as a way to puff yourself up But as a way of realizing more and more how much you need

Christ and more and more what Christ has done so that you can Be more thankful for what Christ has done Okay Just a quick recommendation if you don't know where to start

Thomas Watson on the Ten Commandments, okay Read Thomas Watson on the Ten Commandments You'll you'll look at that you'll see the implication for all the commandments kind of like we're going through with the catechism but a little more in detail and That will let you look in that mirror a little harder to know your need for a

Savior The next thing that you can do

You should confess your should confess your sins To one another. Yes, but most importantly just confess them to God a lot of people.

They're aware that they are not Standing up to God's law, but they don't want to address it in prayer like even speaking to God You know, they don't want to acknowledge that because that makes them feel bad

Acknowledge your acknowledge your sins speak to the Lord. There's a If you do not he will humble you if you do not humble yourself.

He will humble you as if you are his child It says in 2nd Chronicles 32 31 and So in the matter of the envoys of the

Prince of Babylon who had been sent to him to inquire about the sign that had Been done in the land God left him to himself the speaking of Hezekiah in order to test him and to know all that was in His heart, you know, he tests those who are who are sitting there growing in pride

Do not sit there and grow in pride Instead instead confess your sins Confess your sins to the

Lord and then remind yourself of his mercy remind yourself of his mercy by by reading the gospel by thanking

Thanking him for what he has done in salvation in your prayers remind yourself of all those things and then

Start to address It's okay. So that's your relationship between you and God, right? Then there's your relationship between you and others

Jesus addressed the contempt here treated others with contempt Think about the way that you're treating others When you have anger for one another

Recognize that other person is a sinner just like you are right there if you are saved sinners

There's still and I recognize there's a problem with calling one who is who is saved That being their identity as a sinner, but if you recognize that you have no inherent righteousness in yourself

That should be the attitude with which you approach that other person All right, you just said that those who have been forgiven much love much, okay

You're not going to love others. If you're not one if you're not forgiven and then two if you're not spending time contemplating that forgiveness now beyond Beyond dealing with your your anger and your contempt and that way you should actively work toward the good of others

You should be praying for one another you should be praying knowing that others need it This is a way

This really is a great way of increasing your love for the brothers if you are invested in your prayer closet and praying for one

Another and then welcome others into the assembly right welcome others into the church This is not this is not not in the seeker sensitive way, right?

The seeker sensitive way pretends that we're all right with God. Okay, like that's the that's the problem there

This is not pretending. Everyone's all right with God It's recognizing that you apart from Jesus Christ are like them apart from Jesus Christ not right with God Okay, so it's it's like on the other end of the spectrum

Yes, there should be a welcoming but that welcoming is not founded on a lie It should be founded on the truth the truth being that you're one who has no righteousness of your own your righteousness comes from Jesus Christ, this is where everyone everyone apart from a

Savior is not righteous before God And so you should eagerly welcome people into the assembly

You should go out of your way to try to meet people who are who are new at the church, etc To speak to them and see what their spiritual needs are.

You should consider The opposite of treating people with contempt is to value people highly it's to care for their souls

And you will do that if you recognize that you have no reason to count yourself above others And so there's a day coming there.

Remember the context here. Jesus has spoken of his return There's a day coming when Christ will return We are to be praying for that return if you want those prayers to be powerful

You must rid yourself of the spirit of self -righteousness You must recognize that your righteousness only comes from Jesus Christ is on the basis of that Righteousness that God will avenge you as one who is righteous

And you must pray in that way you must Look the law

Directly, you must use that mirror of the law to see your sin. You must run to Jesus Christ for his mercy

Do this anytime you see anytime you see something new in yourself Look for it. And when you see it run to Jesus Christ for his mercy.

His mercy is there And as you are doing that as you are doing that you can know with confidence that you can come up to Mount Zion Not because you are righteous enough of your own to come to Mount Zion But because Jesus Christ is the one who fill fulfills all those things in Psalm 15

Lord who shall sojourn in your tent who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.

Who is the one who is blameless? It's none of us it is Jesus Christ But as we are counted in him We are capable of coming up to this mountain and we are capable of calling away from this mountain so the moment when

I raise both of my hands as Jesus did pronounce the blessing and the assembly is finished in the formal sense and the angels dissipate and the the special of presence of God that we enjoy in our worship together is

Is no longer here and yet his presence in a in a different sense continues with us You can know you are right before your maker not on the basis of your own or comparing yourself to averages or anything like that But on the basis of Jesus Christ and his perfect righteousness

Amen Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ We thank you that you have most graciously given us a good

Savior and that we can Enjoy him fully. We thank you for your law

Which is good for us that we might know not only how we ought to live but our

But just how good you are to us in forgiving us for our sins for making us a holy people though We have no holiness of our own.