What's Your Excuse? (Genesis 3:8-13)

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to Genesis 3 and hold your place at verse 8. Before we read, I want to just sort of set the stage for what we're going to talk about.

Today.

The Gospel of Victimhood and Personal Responsibility Before God

The title of today's message is, What's Your Excuse? But that wasn't the original title. That title is one that I changed. The original title was, The Gospel of Victimhood, and I'm going to explain what that means in a moment, but that's really the subject today is that there are a lot of folks who claim themselves to be victims of circumstance, of other people, of situations, and they use that as their excuse as to why they behave the way they behave, rather than taking responsibility for themselves and for their own actions.

So really, that's the heart of today's message, and the reason why I call it the Gospel of Victimhood is because I do think there are people who believe they're saved by their status as victims. So we're going to talk about a serious subject today.

We're going to talk about the fact that when it comes to our sin before God, there is no one that we can point our finger to and blame and say, it's your fault, not mine. We all are responsible for our sins, and when it comes on the day of judgment, we will face God responsible for ourselves.

Bertrand Russell was a famous Welsh philosopher, aristocrat, and atheist, and he is famous for giving talks about why he's not a Christian. And in one of those talks, when he was speaking at a big seminar, and there were a mixed crowd of people, he gave a talk about why he's not a Christian, and they had a question and answer period.

And during the question and answer period, a lady stood up and she said, Sir, what will you say if when you die, you find yourself standing before God at judgment? And he looked at her with incredulity and said, I will tell God, I'm sorry, but you didn't give me enough evidence.

That was Bertrand Russell's excuse. Many people are like Bertrand Russell, not that they're atheists, because atheism is still quite a minority in our world, but many people are like him in that they believe that when they see God at judgment, they're going to have some excuse for their lives.

They're going to have some excuse for their lack of belief or their misbehavior. It's been said that the problem with most men is not that they believe that hell doesn't exist, but that they believe that somehow they are not worthy of it.

It's not that they disbelieve in hell, but they believe that I don't deserve to go there. They believe that somehow on judgment day, they're going to have an excuse. Certainly there's other people who are guilty, but certainly it's not them.

Certainly it's not me. I'm righteous, and any wrong that I've done is a result of what someone has done to me. You see, people aren't guilty anymore. They're victims. We live in a world full of people who see themselves as victims.

We've created a situation where victim status is actually the highest of virtues. In January 2019, an actor alleged that he had been the victim of a hate crime because of his color and his sexual orientation, only to find out later that the two men who beat him up were actually paid by him, and he staged the entire event because he wanted to achieve victim status, because he knew if he could just achieve victim status, he would be at the highest of all aspirations.

He would have all the attention and certainly all the sympathy. A pastor in Texas who considers himself to be a gay pastor went into Whole Foods and asked for a cake, and there was a slur on the cake.

And so he tried to sue Whole Foods, only to find out by video evidence that they didn't put the slur on the cake. He did, again, trying to achieve some type of victim status. There was a woman in Texas who put acid on her face so that she could blame a black man for having attacked her.

She wanted to be able to be the victim of a racial hate crime. And we all know about the NASCAR driver who made national news because he claimed that a noose had been left in his garage, only to find out that it was actually a garage.

Door pulley.

And you ask, well, why would someone fake being a victim? Think about our culture. It's almost come to the point where, as I said earlier, victimhood is salvation. And the great benefit of claiming victimhood is that it alleviates all responsibility.

Think about all the atrocities we see around us. What do we hear from the people in academia? They say, it's not their fault. They're victims of society. When someone goes on a spree of thievery or a spree of murder or a spree of anything else, they say, it's not their fault.

You see, they're just the product of a bad society. You can't blame them. They are part of the failed system. No one is guilty anymore. Everyone is the victim of a tempter or an oppressor. Well, today what we're going to see in our text is that when we stand before God, victimhood does not create an excuse.

There is no one on judgment at whom we can point to as being guilty other than ourselves. God does not allow us to play the blame game. Our sin is our responsibility. So let's look at Genesis 3. Now, this time we will stand because we won't be reading an entire chapter, but I will invite you to stand to give honor and reverence to God's Word.

It also wakes you up if maybe you've begun to drift from what I'm saying. So I invite you to stand and we're going to read verses 18, excuse me, 8 to 13 in Genesis chapter 3. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.

He said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, the woman whom you gave to me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done?

And the woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. Father in heaven, as I seek to bring an exposition of your word, I pray that you would keep me from error. I pray that you would also keep me from cowardice.

May I preach with accuracy and boldness. May your people be moved to a closer conformity to Jesus Christ. And may anyone who is here who has not bowed the knee to Jesus Christ understand today that when they stand at judgment, there will be no one that they can look to other than your son, Jesus Christ, who came to take away sin.

And we pray it in his name.

Amen.

You may be seated. I'm really disappointed that Jack Bunning and Shirley are out of town today because I think this first thing I'm going to mention would have resonated with them. But maybe some of you also will remember this.

In the 70s, there was a man by the name of Clero Wilson, who was otherwise known as Flip. Flip Wilson. Does anybody remember Flip Wilson? Okay, a few of you. He had one of the highest rated television programs of all time.

It was a variety show. And his most memorable character on the show was Miss Geraldine Jones. Miss Geraldine was the wife of a preacher and she introduced America to the most popular catchphrase of the 1970s.

What was it? The devil made me do it. Why'd you spend all that money, Geraldine? The devil made me do it. Why'd you buy that dress, Geraldine? Well, the devil was sitting on my shoulder and he showed me how pretty that dress was and he took me right in the store.

Why'd you wreck the car, Geraldine? Well, the devil was sitting on the steering wheel and I couldn't control it. No matter what the situation, no matter how ridiculous, there was always one ever-present culprit in the life of Geraldine Jones and it was the devil.

Well, that skit is not unlike what we see in our text today. Adam and Eve are face-to-face with God. They have broken His one singular command and instead of owning their error, instead of going to God in confession and repentance, they begin to point fingers.

Now, I know not everyone comes every week and I know not everyone has been with us and I know we always have visitors and guests and I'm glad that you're here. We go verse by verse through the text and so those who have been here know that we went up last week to this part in the narrative.

But for those of you who haven't been here, let me just kind of bring you up to speed as to where we are. God has created a man and a woman and He's given them charge to work and keep the garden, this garden that He's put them in, and they were allowed to eat of everything in the garden.

They were given free reign of the garden except for one tree. And this one tree was called the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a lot of people think that that is some type of mystical, magical, mythical thing, but really what it is, is this tree is an opportunity to do right or to do wrong.

And if you do wrong, you're going to introduce evil into the world and thus you're going to not only know evil conceptually, but you're going to know evil actually. You see, when Adam and Eve were created, they were created intelligent.

It wasn't like they couldn't understand the concept of good and bad. Even Eve, when she was tempted by the devil, understood the concept of bad. No, we can't do that because God said on the day that we do that, we will die.

But they did not have a conception of what we would call experiential knowledge. For instance, I have five children. I have watched my wife give birth on several occasions. And I know what it is like to give birth from the perspective of the knowledge of seeing it happen and knowing that it's a very difficult process, but I don't know what it's like to give birth.

You understand, the knowledge of giving birth is something my wife has that I don't. She has the intimate knowledge of having experienced that in a way that I never will. And so, Adam and Eve were told, do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

On the day that you do, you will die. This is Genesis 2, 16 and 17. You will die. The serpent comes on the scene at the beginning of chapter 3, and he convinces them to eat by denying what God has said.

God says you shall surely die, but the serpent said you will not surely die. That's chapter 3, verse 4. In fact, what's going to happen is that when you eat of the tree, you're going to become like God.

You're going to know evil. You're going to know good. You're going to know experientially. You're going to understand something that you don't understand yet. You're going to become like God. And Adam and Eve wanted to be like God, not in the good way, as being righteous and holy, but they wanted to be like God.

They wanted all the knowledge of God. They wanted the knowledge that really wasn't theirs to have. They wanted the understanding that wasn't theirs to seek. Satan convinces Eve to know evil intimately is positive.

And he tells her God was keeping something positive from her. And rather than rejecting the serpent's lie, she accepted the lie. She encourages Adam. He indulges with her. And by the end of verse 6, both of them have eaten of the tree.

Both of them feel shame, and both of them cover themselves with an inadequate covering, which is what our subject was last week, the inadequate covering of the fig leaves. At this moment, their eyes are opened.

They realize they're exposed to one another and to the world. They felt guilt and shame, something they'd never experienced in the world before. And so they are now hiding from God. And this is what brings us to verse 8, the starting of our reading today.

It says, They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Now, before we go any further, I just think there's an interesting underneath to this text that is often missed because we read in English.

We don't read in Hebrew, which is what this language was originally given. And the word, the cool of the day here, actually means…. Some of your translations may say, in the windy part of the day or in the wind of the day.

Because the word that undergirds the word cool here is not the word that we would typically think of as cold and hot. It's actually the word for spirit. If you remember Genesis chapter 1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless and void, and the Spirit of God was hovering.

Ruach was the word there, the Hebrew word, Ruach, for spirit. And so, this could be translated, sort of loosely, that God came, was walking in the spirit of the day. And what that may indicate to us was that there was an appointed time where they met with God.

There was an appointed time where God came and there was a time of intimacy with God. The spirit of the day, the Ruach of the day. So, this day, this part of the day is something they were used to. They were used to having intimacy with God.

They were used to having a relationship with Him that was unbroken. They were used to having that intimate connection with God. And so, God has come, as is seemingly His normal pattern, to be with His creation and to fellowship with them.

But they're hiding from Him. And something to remember, God was not present. And when I say God is always present, omnipresent. But when we see the scene with Adam and Eve and the serpent earlier, God is not present there.

God is coming. And again, please understand, I know God is omnipresent. But the point is, for Adam and Eve's conception, they're used to intimately being with God. And at that moment, they were not in that intimate setting.

They were away from God when they sinned. Now God comes back, begins to look for them. They're hiding from Him because they don't want to be back in His presence. They don't want to be back in that situation because they know they've done wrong.

They're shamed. They're sinners. Everything's changed. The relationship has changed. And so, God begins to question them. And some people think, well, the reason why God questions them is because God doesn't know what has happened.

Because He was away. That's not true. God knows exactly what has happened. Even though He was not in a physical form there with them or in any type of ethereal form, He was still present because, again, He's omnipresent.

And God knows exactly what has happened. God knows that Satan has tempted. God knows that Eve has fallen to that temptation. God knows that Eve has encouraged her husband. And God knows that He has indulged as well.

God knows what has happened. But He still comes up and He asks the question. First question, verse 9, where are you? You think God didn't know? You think their fig leaves functioned as that good a camouflage that God couldn't see?

Of course not. But let me ask you this. You're parents, many of you. And if you're a parent, you know this. You've asked your children questions that you knew the answer to many times. Why do we ask our children questions to which we already know the answer?

Because we are giving them the opportunity for confession. We are giving them the opportunity to confess what they have done. Maybe it's just me. Maybe your kids are perfect. But I know with my children, sometimes I'll ask them a question.

I know exactly what the answer is. I'm giving them an opportunity. God says, where are you? Adam says, I heard the sound of you and I hid myself for I was naked. And then God asks the second question, how did you know you were naked?

God knows how He knows. But He still asks, gives them the opportunity for confession. And He even asks even further. Did you eat of the tree of the knowledge that I told you not to eat? Have you done this thing that I commanded you not to do?

Adam, I'm giving you the opportunity here. I'm giving you an opportunity for confession. And instead of offering a confession, Adam offers an excuse. Look at verse 12. Then the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate.

Notice Adam's response is not a confession. Notice Adam's response is not contrition. Adam's response is contention. It's not confession, it's not contrition, it's contention. He knows there's been a sin committed, but he doesn't see himself as the culprit.

In Adam's eyes, he's the victim. He should not be blamed for his transgression. This is someone else's fault, not his own. And something easy to miss in verse 12. I think verse 12 is the key to all of this.

Because what's easy to miss in verse 12 is that he doesn't really so much lay the blame at Eve's feet, which he does. He lays the blame at the feet of God. The woman whom thou hast given me. Where's the finger pointing?

It's pointing to God.

You did this, you gave her to me.

You said she was going to be my helpmate. You said she was going to come and be a blessing. You gave her to me as a gift and she's a curse. The woman whom thou hast given me. And you've got to think, Eve's over there going, way to throw me under the bus, Adam.

Are you serious now? I thought we were, you know, till death do us part.

I thought you loved me.

But the first thing you do is you blame me and then you blame God for creating me. So Adam's response to being caught in transgression is to blame God for his wife's malfeasance. Now, I want to ask you a question before we go further.

Have you ever heard someone blame God for their failures? Have you ever heard someone blame God for their sin? They find themselves in the midst of whatever situation and they say something like, Why would God do this to me?

Or why would God allow me to be in this situation? He knows I can't handle this level of temptation. Well, Adam is what I call the attitudinal archetype of that. He's got that attitude from the beginning.

God, this is your fault. I think about what James said in James 1, verse 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I have been tempted by God. Let no one cast the blame for his own sin. James goes on to say we are tempted and led away by our own desires.

There is no finger pointing, especially up. Well, not to be outdone, Eve offers up her own excuse. Verse 13. Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me and I ate.

The gaze of God turns from Adam to Eve and Eve experiences the frightening gaze of Almighty God shift to her. And here's the thing about it. Even though what Adam said was unthoughtful and even though what Adam said was ultimately unloving in his indictment of her, they weren't wrong.

Everything Adam said was true. She had been deceived by the devil. She ate of the fruit and she gave it to Adam and he ate it at her beckoning. So Adam wasn't lying. It's not an excuse as we'll see, but it still was true.

This is why God's attention shifts from Adam to her. Because it's not a lie. There is a temptation and a tempter that is present. So is Eve going to confess her sin?

No.

Is she going to say, Yes God, I sinned against you and against my husband?

No.

She's not going to say that. She's going to say,.

The devil made me do it.

She's going to become Geraldine Jones. She's going to point her finger and she's going to say, It's the serpent who caused me to do this. And if you notice in the narrative, the only one that doesn't speak is Satan.

And he was a chatterbox just a few verses earlier. He was all about telling her how she was going to be like God and how the fruit was good to make her wise before God and he was all about talking, but not now.

Now he has nothing to say. Most likely because God does not inquire of him. If you notice, God speaks to Adam. Adam, where are you? What have you done? Have you eaten of the tree of the knowledge that I told you not to eat?

And he has a conversation with Adam. Adam points to Eve. So God looks to Eve and Eve says, The devil made me do it. And you notice there is no interaction with Satan.

Why?

Why?

Satan is already condemned at this point. There is no opportunity for redemption for the serpent. So no excuse asked for or allowed. No opportunity to open his mouth. The verdict is in. And by the way, I do want to...

I know I use my board sometimes to make a point. I want to show you guys something that I found very interesting as I was examining this text. And apparently the wheel is hard to move there. When you look at the structure of Genesis 3, and you look at the structure, we see a structure of judgment.

And we are not looking at the judgments today. But the judgments begin at verse 14 and go through the end of the chapter. We are going to look at that next week. But notice the first person that is spoken to is Adam.

The second person that is spoken to is Eve. And Adam points to Eve and Eve points to the serpent.

Okay?

When the judgments come, beginning at verse 14, we are going to see the judgment comes to the serpent and then back to Eve and then back to Adam. So where God begins with Adam, moves to Eve and then to the serpent, the judgments go from the serpent to the woman and then to Adam.

And someone says, well, what's the significance in that? Well, I think there are a few things that we could consider. Understanding first and foremost that nothing is in the Bible by mistake. The Bible is God's Word and it's given to us purposefully in the way that it's given.

And I think the key, at least what I've recognized in my study, I think the key is that Adam is the beginning and ending of this whole situation. It's Adam who was not keeping the garden and allowed the serpent in.

It's Adam who failed to protect his wife in this situation. And it's Adam who has ultimately bore the responsibility down to today. Because when we say that we have sinned, what do we say? We don't say we sinned in Satan.

We don't say we sinned in Eve. What do we say? We sinned in Adam. Adam is the key to this whole situation. Because he is acting as what? Our representative. He is acting as, essentially, as a representative of all mankind.

And so I do think there's what's called a chiastic structure there. And it's giving us the focal point at the beginning and at the end. Seeing little structures like that in the text are helpful as it's helping us to see what the writer, Moses at this point, which is ultimately the author is the Holy Spirit, helping us to see that the key actor here is Adam.

But notice, none of them are let off the hook by their excuse. And again, we're not going to get to the judgment today, but the serpent receives a judgment? And I can't wait to talk about that. That's so weird.

What happens when God judges them? And I say weird. I mean, I love to study. And Mike and I have been talking all about these judgment passages and how interesting it is. There's so much that happens beginning at verse 14.

And I'm really looking forward to unpacking that next week. But the key to this, what we're seeing, is we're seeing no one is left without judgment. You see, I've been saying this the whole time. We're responsible for our own sin.

But that doesn't mean that someone who tempts us isn't also guilty. Satan is the first one to receive judgment.

Why?

Because he has tempted this entire event. He's involved in the temptation. He is a liar from the beginning, the Bible says. And he is going to receive judgment as the tempter. Eve was deceived. 1 Timothy tells us she did it because she was deceived.

But she still doesn't escape judgment. Just because she was deceived, doesn't mean that she gets off scot-free. Is this clicking with you guys now? The point is this. That yes, you might be able to say, I did what I did because so and so did something to me.

You could point at an external tempter or an external oppressor. And you might have some validity to the fact that you were tempted or oppressed. But it will never alleviate you from your part in the sin.

You can't blame that. Even though you did have a tempter, even though you did have an oppressor, you are still responsible. See, the problem with Calvinism, and as a Calvinist, I can say this. The problem a lot of times with Calvinism is they think because God is sovereign, that makes us not responsible.

But you understand, that's what hyper-Calvinism is. Hyper-Calvinism says because God is sovereign, you're not responsible. But biblical, and as I say, biblical Calvinism, however you want to use the phrase, we say God is sovereign, and I'm still responsible for everything that I do.

You say, but Adam was my representative, and Adam brought the whole universe into sin. Doesn't alleviate me from my responsibility. All of it shows me that if I would have been Adam, I would have done the same thing.

Every time I sin, I just prove that Adam did right in his representing me. So don't ever think original sin gives you somebody to point at either, because it don't. The responsibility of sin is laid upon the sinner.

Adam, you've sinned. Satan, you've sinned. Eve, you've sinned. And even though you have fingers to point, know this, and this is cheesy, but it's true. When you point one finger away, three point back at you.

Right?

So when I point at Dale and I say, Dale, you caused me to sin. Dale, you really didn't cause me to sin. You may have given me the opportunity. You may have given me the temptation. You know, I'm just kidding.

But Dale, I love you. But if I point my finger at you, you know there's three pointed back at me. God did not allow Adam or Eve to be freed from their guilt by blaming someone else. Now, there's a pastor up in Pittsburgh.

Dale, I know that's your town. There's a pastor up, and I didn't even mean to do that. But there's a pastor up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who wrote an article for Desiring God. If you don't know what Desiring God is, that's John Piper's ministry.

They have several really good articles online. And a lot of times when I'm preparing my sermons, after I've gone through the exegetical work and looked at commentaries or whatever, I'll go and look at some articles, draw out some things.

And he has something really good. I want to read you a part of his article. He was talking about the garden. He says this. He says, The blame shifting in the garden continues to today. Our proud hearts send us desperately looking for someone else to point to every time we're confronted with our own sin.

There must be someone else, our spouse, our siblings, our parents, our boss, our coworker, our pastor, our friend, or God himself. We are so desperate to justify ourselves that we become irrational. And he says this.

Here's 12 examples. And I want to tell you, as I was reading these, every one of them slapped me across the face. But just listen. 12 examples. This is not a 12-point sermon. These are going to go fast.

12 examples of how we justify ourselves. Number one, anger. I wouldn't lose my temper if my coworkers were easier to get along with, or if my kids behaved better, or if my spouse were more considerate.

That's a way of blaming others for my sin. Number two, impatience. I would be very patient if it weren't for traffic jams and long grocery lines, if I didn't have so many things to do, and if people around me weren't so slow, I would be much less impatient.

Really? Number three, lust. I would have a pure mind if it weren't for so many sensual images in our culture.

Really?

Number four, anxiety. I wouldn't worry about the future if my life were a little more secure, if I had a little more money or better health. Number five, spiritual apathy. My spiritual life would be so much more vibrant, and I would struggle less with sin if my small group were more encouraging, or if my Sunday school class were more engaging, or if the music and the worship were more lively, or if the sermons were better.

Number six, insubordination. If my parents, bosses, elders were godly leaders, then I would joyfully follow them. Number seven, a critical spirit. It's not my fault that people around me are ignorant and stupid.

Actually, he said ignorant and inexperienced, but I added that one. That's the way people act, right? The reason why I'm so critical is because everyone else is so bad. Number eight, bitterness. If you knew what the person did to me, then you would understand why I hate them.

Gluttony. My wife, husband, roommate, friend is a wonderful cook, and these things make it impossible to resist. That's why I'm heavy, or whatever.

Gossip.

It's the people around me who start the conversations. There's no way to avoid hearing what they say, and when they ask me questions, I can't help but tell them what I know. Self-pity. I'll never be happy because my marriage or my family or my job or my ministry is so difficult.

Selfishness. I would be more generous if I just had more money. You see, we're always blaming someone else. We're always blaming something else. And what do we learn from this? I have this on the screen.

Noah, bring up the next screen. Three things that we learn. This isn't from his article. This is what I wrote. Three things we learn from this. Number one, we are all ultimately responsible for our own sins.

Number two, we cannot blame external temptation as justification for our sins. And number three, we are all worthy of God's righteous condemnation because of our sins. Is there anyone in here who would dare say you're not a sinner?

I would hope not. But I will say this, and I want you to be real for a moment. Just be real. Take out, you know, don't be a bunch of pious gasbags. Listen to what I'm about to say, because this is real.

I imagine if somebody pointed out a sin in your life, your first response would not be confession, but it would be justification. The natural response to correction is self-justification. And that's what we see in Adam, and that's what we see in Eve.

D .A. Carson wrote a book called The God Who Is There. It's on our shelf out there. And I photocopied a part of it, and I want to read just a short paragraph. He says, one of the inevitable results of guilt and shame is self-justification.

Adam justifies himself by blaming Eve. Eve justifies herself by blaming the serpent. And our only hope of being reconciled to God is for God to justify us. You see, our problem is we're trying to find justification in the wrong thing.

We're trying to find justification in blame. We're trying to find justification in being victims. And as Kent Hughes said in his commentary, victimhood has become the fantasy land refuge of everyone, from criminals to presidents to theologians, who imagine that their blame or their conduct can be placed on some other person.

Buck-passing is the therapeutic trademark of the new millennium. Hear that again. Buck-passing is the therapeutic trademark of the new millennium. What do we say when we set them down on the couch? What do the psychologists say?

How did your mother treat you? Did she hug you too much or not enough? It's always someone else. And that is destructive because it destroys families, it destroys friendships, it destroys relationships, it destroys partnerships, it destroys a whole host of other things.

But most of all, the worst thing of all is that it keeps a person from repentance. Because as long, listen to this, as long as you are blaming someone else, you will never accept the responsibility for what you have done, and as long as you are not accepting the responsibility, you will not repent.

So that's where the title of today's sermon comes from. What's your excuse? What are you hoping will be your excuse before Almighty God? Here's the great irony, folks. And this is the key. This is the key to everything today.

There is one person in all of human history who not only was willing to take our guilt, but he was able to because he himself was not guilty. But he only takes our guilt once we have abandoned all attempts to justify ourselves.

Jesus Christ does not want us to come to him blaming other people for our sins. He wants us to come to him saying, have mercy on me, a sinner. And I want to end with my favorite parable. I won't even make you turn there.

But you remember the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector? Two men went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, which was the religious leaders. The other was a tax collector, which were the outcasts.

They were the turncoats. They were hated. Two men went to the temple to pray, Jesus said. One was a Pharisee. The other was a tax collector. The Pharisee went into the temple and he raised his hands to God and he said, God, I thank you that I am not like other men.

I am not a thief or an extortioner or a murderer. And I'm not like this tax collector. But I tithe all that I have. And I do this and I do that and I do all these things that are good. But the tax collector would not even approach.