The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector - Luke 18:9-14

Hill City Reformed Baptist Church

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This morning we're going to have Jake Reddy, one of our deacons, give the message this morning. And I just wanted to give a little bit of an introduction and, of course, kind of explain to our church family kind of a little bit of the background that kind of led to this

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Sunday here that we have before us. Jake, for those of you who know, has been enrolled in Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary.

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He's felt the calling on his life to ministry. Him and Maggie have been, you know, really praying through this and pushing forward with this.

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The deacons, I mean, the elders, excuse me, have been coming alongside of him throughout this process.

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He's been very intentional. He was really good about getting with us and just before he was even coming down to a choice on a seminary, he was really working with the elders, giving us the opportunity for advice and consent, and God brought him to Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary.

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It's a wonderful school. For those who are ever inclined to go to seminary, it was a great choice on Jake's part.

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As many know, of course, part of the seminary instruction and development comes with affording young men who are seminarians the opportunity to preach and to participate in an active way in different aspects of ministry.

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This is part of the preparation that they receive, along with the academic regimen that they have to go through as well.

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The elders have been with Jake along the way. I myself have proctored many of the exams that he has had.

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I know Reed and Micah have met with him as well. We pray with them. We love them.

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But the time came that he had the opportunity to preach, and of course, a lot of seminary students will put themselves in pulpit supply, and then they'll bounce around from one church to the next and minister that way.

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And there's nothing wrong with that opportunity, of course. But one of the things that the elders really felt that it was important was that Jake, when he preached, that he would preach where his accountability was, that he would preach to the church family that knows him and loves him and his family.

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And so that was one of the things that the elders were really in common agreement was, at least for the first time, that he would have this opportunity to preach, that he was to do so in front of his church family, the people who know him best.

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So Jake, I would like to call you on up right here, right now, to assume this pulpit and bring the

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Word to us today. Good morning.

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What a blessing it is to worship and fellowship with you, and what a blessing it is to preach as we receive

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God's inspired Word together. This morning we will be in a different book than the one we've been in, but nevertheless, like Matthew, it is one of the gospel accounts that records the earthly life and ministry of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Today we'll be covering Luke chapter 18, verses 9 through 14, in what is known as the parable of the

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Pharisee and the tax collector. And Jesus teaches this parable while he is on his final journey to Jerusalem, where he will ultimately give his life as the spotless lamb that takes away the sins of the world.

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And as a reminder, a parable is not a historical account of actual events, but rather a created story that's intended to convey a deeper message.

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And in this parable that Jesus teaches, he is precise, he is direct, and he is exact.

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In this parable that our Lord gives us, there is more salvific truth and theological depth packed into these six verses, then can be contained in 10 ,000 books by the world's most renowned theologians.

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This parable cuts to the very heart of justification by faith, it exalts

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God above all else, and it points to Christ as the author and perfecter of salvation.

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But before we begin reading this text, I want to submit to you that there stands a great problem for all mankind.

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It is a problem that has existed since Adam and Eve, and it's a problem that will extend all throughout the course of history to the very last human being that will ever be in existence until the second coming of Christ.

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It's a problem of infinite magnitude for the entire human race. It's a problem that the entire counsel of scripture points to, and it's a problem that every person is faced with.

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Our great problem is this, how can sinful man be reconciled to a holy

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God? Or in other words, as Job 25 .4 says, how can a man be righteous with God?

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You see, the Bible tells us that God and man are at enmity with one another. God is holy, man is not.

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God is righteous, man is unrighteous. God is just, and man is deserving of his justice.

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Man has sinned against his creator and is by nature deserving of his creator's eternal judgment.

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God and man are at enmity with one another, separated by a great and infinite chasm because of sin.

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So the problem stands, how can sinful man be made right with God?

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This is often referred to by theologians as the divine dilemma. And this morning, in this parable, we will see the answer to this divine dilemma as we compare two men and the foundations upon which they stand.

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We will see their contrasting heart postures, their understandings of who God is, and ultimately how they believe they're reconciled to him.

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And above all, we will see the purity of the gospel put on full display as we're appointed to the cross and the mercy and grace that has been poured out onto us through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray before the reading of God's word. God, would you help us this morning to see the gospel in this passage?

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Help us to see our great treasure in Christ in this parable, that we would be reminded that he is our only hope for salvation.

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Would you turn our hearts from the wicked distractions of this world, that we would be constrained and compelled by the love of Christ?

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I ask that your grace would cover my weakness this morning as I preach, and that through the proclamation of your word, by the power of your

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Holy Spirit, would you sanctify your bride and save sinners. In your name, amen. So Luke chapter 18, verses 9 through 14, starts in verse 9, it says,

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Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with content.

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

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The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed this, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

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I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven.

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But he beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

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I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

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In order to rightly understand this parable, and to divide this text, I think there's wisdom in briefly expounding on the context of this parable here.

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When we come to passages like this, and a parable like this one, there's a tendency to gravitate solely towards the dialogue of these men, but I think there's wisdom in understanding the context that we'd be able to get our arms around this parable and really receive everything our

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Lord intends to teach us here in all of its fullness. Firstly, in verse 9, we see a target audience.

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Verse 9 reads that Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with content.

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And here scholars seem to unanimously agree that Jesus is both here in a crowd of his followers and his critics, and he aims this parable in chapter 18 directly toward the

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Pharisees standing in this crowd. And when we see the Pharisees in Scripture, we often see them in the

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Gospels as one of the main antagonistic groups of Christ that abhorred and despised his earthly ministry.

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They were a sect of Jewish scholars that came into existence during the intertestamental period and were estimated to be about 6 ,000 in number.

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And their obsession was with an external adherence to the law of God. However, Scripture quickly tells us that their obsession was nothing more than a convoluted religious system of workspace legalism that was antithetical to the

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Gospel. They lived by a created system of over 1 ,500 man -made laws that they elevated to be on the same level as Scripture.

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And they gained a confidence in their right standing before God based on their own ability to follow these man -made laws.

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Their focus was on the outward appearance rather than the sinful human heart. And this is why

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Jesus says in Matthew 23 that they are whitewashed tombs. But to the Israelite nation, they were the heroes.

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They were the teachers of the law that if anything was in question, they had the answer. There was nobody in society more beloved, revered, and respected than a

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Pharisee. Because to the Israelite nation on the outside, the Pharisees had a screaming and unwavering devotion to God.

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And this is not just our target audience here today, but one of the men that Jesus places in this parable to contrast with the tax collector.

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And the tax collector, on the other hand, he was the most hated and despised of everyone in the

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Jewish nation. Tax collectors were also known as publicans, and they charged tolls and taxes to other fellow

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Jews on behalf of the Roman government. And in the Old Testament, in which this parable takes place, the

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Jews were under a system of almost double taxation where they had to pay all the taxes as prescribed by all the

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Old Testament law on top of all the taxes as demanded by the Roman government. And it was estimated that the

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Jews had to give over 40 % of their annual income. So tax collectors, they became the face of Roman oppression and betrayal of their own people.

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Because the way that they would actually turn a profit is they would demand more taxes and a higher amount of money than was actually required from their fellow

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Jews in order that they could pocket and make personal gain off that. So Jews viewed this profession as treason against the nation of Israel, and equal to treason against God.

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You see, this is the most wretched, the worst, and the most vile sinner that Jesus could have placed in this parable, especially according to the crowd that's listening.

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And our setting in this parable is the temple. In the Old Testament, the temple was a symbol of God's covenant presence amongst his people where the all -knowing, almighty, infinite creator of the universe came to dwell in glory among man.

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Read, in a sermon he gave a few months ago, he gives a really helpful quote in explaining how the

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Jews viewed the temple. He said the Jews viewed the temple as the very throne room of God and the center of all true worship on earth among men.

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They viewed this as God's place of ruling dominion over the whole world. The temple was the center of the world where God's glory came to dwell, and it represented

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God's very presence on earth. So to the Jews listening to this parable, where the

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Pharisee and the tax collector are, this is the most sacred place on all the earth. And Jesus says in Matthew 21, 13, that the temple was a house of prayer, as it was here that prayer, sacrifices, and offerings were given in worship to the triune

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God of the universe. So the most respected and the most despised, they ascend the long steps up to the temple.

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And when they get to the top, the Pharisee says this, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

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I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. Immediately, we see that this

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Pharisee is dripping with self -righteousness and arrogance. He is certain about his right standing before God because he is certain about his own righteousness.

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We really see that his prayer consists mainly of two parts. Firstly, in verse 11, he brings other men lower than himself that he would draw out his exceptional worth from among them.

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And then in verse 12, he boasts of his achievements that he would further be elevated above other men.

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And firstly, I want us to look at the Pharisee's confidence in salvation in verse 12. And then we'll go back to verse 11 and see how his confidence in salvation ultimately shapes his view of others.

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Verse 12, he says, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. In the

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Old Testament, it was only required to fast once a year on the day of atonement as a means to be ceremonially clean and to direct all true attention and worship towards God during the time which atonement was made in the temple through animal sacrifices.

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But the Pharisees, they had to do more. They had to go beyond what they believed the law even required, that they would be extra righteous before God, that they would be distinguished among men.

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The law to them was easy. They didn't fast just once a year. They went twice a week the entire day without eating anything.

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And the Pharisee goes on in his prayer, he says, and I give tithes of all that I get. Tithing in the

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Old Testament, it was only required of certain goods as a means to fund the theocratic government of the nation of Israel.

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But the Pharisees, they ensured that they tithe a literal tenth of everything, even down to the smallest herbs and spices.

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So here the Pharisee, he brags about his tireless and steadfast allegiance to the law of God. But none of this was pleasing to our

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Lord. None of this was true worship to him as it was motivated by self -righteousness and stained by sin.

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Regarding fasting, Matthew records Jesus saying in Matthew chapter six, verse 16, when you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting.

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The Pharisees, when they would fast, they would often fast on Mondays and Thursdays as these were the market days, and they wanted to be seen by hundreds and hundreds of people.

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And then also they would neglect personal hygiene and even apply certain substances to their faces in order to look more pale and famished than they really were.

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Regarding tithing, one commentator writes, the Pharisees fastidiously weighed out a tenth of every herb, perhaps even counting individual seeds.

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They were satisfied to focus on the incidentals and externals, but willfully resisted the spiritual meaning of the law.

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This is why Jesus says in Matthew 23, 23, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, for you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, but you've neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness.

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First Samuel 16, seven says people look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

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On the outside, this Pharisee had a screaming devotion to God, but on the inside, he had an unregenerate heart and heart.

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On the outside, he had a vibrant spiritual life, but on the inside, he was really spiritually dead.

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And notice, this isn't even a prayer. He asked God for nothing, he needs nothing from God, no mercy, no grace, no petition, no true gratitude.

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This is really just a boasting before God and men. Matthew Henry in his commentary writes, the

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Pharisee trusted to his achievements as a righteousness, and not only mentioned it, but pleaded it, as if he hereby had merited it at the hands of God and made him his debtor.

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Here's not one word of prayer in all that he sayeth. And we can even take note in verse 13, where the

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Pharisee's standing, and we can use verse 13, where the tax collector is likely standing as far as he can be away from the holy of holies, that the

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Pharisee is actually as close as he can be to the holy of holies to show his proximity to God.

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And the holy of holies that house the Ark of the Covenant, which was so deadly in the Old Testament because of the holiness of God in relation to the sinfulness of man, that it would actually kill men for touching it.

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So the holy of holies was a place that man would dare not enter, let alone even approach, if he saw himself as unclean.

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So here the Pharisee, he has an unshakable confidence in his right standing before God. He needs nothing from God in salvation, because he's done it all himself.

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He owes God nothing, but rather God owes him everything. I want to take a pause in our text here to really emphasize the truth of the gospel that's in this passage here.

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Why this Pharisee has it all wrong, and why the world gets it all wrong. That we would grow in our personal understandings of the gospel, but also grow in our ability to proclaim the gospel to others.

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I want to really emphasize why it's impossible to be saved by our works, and why the only way by which salvation can be received is by faith.

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And a right understanding of the gospel, it ultimately starts with a right understanding of who

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God is. You see, the Bible tells us that God is perfect, that he is good, and that he is so morally pure to the degree that he is separate from all else.

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And what the Bible refers to is his holiness. And because of his incomparably perfect nature, the only way anything or anyone can judicially stand in his presence is to be declared just as righteous as he is.

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They must be declared just as perfect as he is, without a speck or blemish of sin.

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This is why Jesus says in Matthew 5, 48, you must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.

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And God shows us his perfect standard required to stand before him through the giving of his law.

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All his commands are a reflection of his perfect and righteous standard, and his law must be obeyed completely.

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It must be fulfilled. And God's holiness, you see, anything less than perfect cannot stand before God because God's holiness demands his justice against anything that's impure or evil.

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Like we talked about, scripture has told us that we have sinned against God, that we've broken his law, and that there stands a great and infinite chasm between a holy

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God and sinful man. But here's the problem that the world gets wrong, and the problem that the

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Pharisee gets wrong. And what we must be sure to proclaim when we proclaim the gospel to others is that we have no hope within ourselves to reconcile ourselves back to God.

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We cannot save ourselves by anything that we do for our own inherent righteousness. Scripture tells us that man in his depravity, we're not neutral with the choice for good or evil.

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Rather, the Bible tells us that we're dead in sin, we're enslaved to sin, and we're only capable of doing sinful things.

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Romans 3, 10 through 12, says there's no one good, no not one, and that no one does good.

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And Isaiah 64, 6 says that all our works are like a filthy rag stained by sin. And this is not my illustration, but I think it's helpful in really helping us to understand the truth of the gospel here, and the hopelessness that we have in being reconciled to God through our own merit.

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Leprosy was a prominent disease in biblical times, where an individual's skin would essentially slough off until he died.

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And if I were to bring someone with leprosy in here, you would know that they were here the second you walked through the door.

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You would know they were here before you even saw them, because of the vile stench of the disease that they had.

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And if we were to take the world's finest silk, and the world's finest perfumes and fragrances, and attempt to clothe this leper and cover him with these fragrances, it would only take but a few minutes for the disease of the leper to bleed through the silk and overpower the fragrances we attempt to cover him in.

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And this is like all our works apart from Christ. Like the leper whose disease bleeds through the silk and makes it unclean, the corruption of our sin nature bleeds through every thought, every deed, every action that we do, and makes it unclean before a holy

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God. Everything that we do is stained by sin, because our very nature is corrupt. Everything that we do is stained by sin, because we are sinners.

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Romans 14 .23 tells us that anything apart from faith is sin. First Corinthians 10 .31 says, whatever you do, whatever you eat or drink, do it all for the glory of God.

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And if it's not for the glory of God, then it's sin. So all the works of fallen man apart from Christ, they're not done as through faith in Christ, as a means to glorify

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God, therefore they're all sinful. So when God looks at the entirety of our works apart from Christ, the entirety of everything that this

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Pharisee has done in his entire life, all he sees is sin.

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And this is why the Puritans say that trying to be reconciled to God through your works is like trying to climb to the moon on a rope made of sand.

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And you see, this is the curse of the law. To be condemned by the law, but unable to be saved by the law.

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We have no power within us to fulfill the law. We have no power within us to be perfect, as our

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Heavenly Father is perfect. There must be an alien righteousness, a divine righteousness that we receive outside of ourselves in order to stand before God.

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And this righteousness is only found in Christ. Christ lived the perfect sinless life that we can never live.

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He fulfilled the law of God. He obeyed it in its entirety. And on the cross, Christ imputed his righteousness from his perfect sinless life to us, that we would stand righteous before God.

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You see, and this is why the law is a means of grace, because even though it condemns us, it drives us to Christ.

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Christ completed the work of the law in its entirety. There's not one work of the law left for us to do to be saved, because Christ has done it all.

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And this is why the only means by which salvation can be received is by faith. There are really only two religions in the world.

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The first is Christianity, where we rest by faith alone in the work of Christ alone. And the other is every other religious system and belief system in the world that believes they are reconciled to God through their own righteousness, their own works, by some man -made sacraments, by being a good person.

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But all these other religions, all these other belief systems, they all believe the same thing.

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They believe that they can generate a righteousness within themselves that is not only tolerable in the holy presence of God, but pleasing to him.

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They don't believe in a God that is so righteous that he is separate from all his creation. They believe they can be righteous just like God.

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Proverbs 16, 18 says, Pride leads to destruction, a haughty spirit before the fall. This is the very definition of pride.

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God has raised his son on a tree and declared to the world, look what I have done to save sinners. And yet sinful, wicked man looks at the cross, rejects the work of Christ, rejects his fulfillment of the law, and stands before this holy

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God and says no. Look what I have done to save myself. All our works apart from Christ, even the very best of them, only earn us an eternity in hell.

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If you get justification by faith wrong, you get everything wrong. And the most unloving thing that we can do is not to tell these other belief systems or these other religions the truth of the gospel.

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We must show them their condemnation under the law, their hopelessness of being saved through the law, but that Christ is the redeemer from the curse of the law.

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You see, your understanding of who God is will ultimately dictate how you believe you are reconciled to him. If you believe in the

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God of the Bible who is so perfect that he is separate from all else, your only hope to stand before him is in the righteousness of his son.

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Now let's look at, we'll go back to verse 11, and we'll see how the Pharisee's belief of being saved by his works shapes his view of others.

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Verse 11 he says, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

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Because this Pharisee believes that he has surpassed everyone in righteousness, because he can take credit for all that he has done and all his obedience, he looks upon other men as nothing that he would draw out his exceptional worth from among them.

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He says he's not like extortioners, the Greek word is harpox, meaning robbers. He's not like the unjust, adikos, meaning cheaters or dishonest.

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He's not like adulterers, moikos, immoral sexual sinners. And he is certainly not like the tax collector standing far off on the outer edge of the temple.

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These are the low lives of society, according to the Pharisee. And he is certainly not like them.

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The Pharisee in verse 9 views these people with content, and the Greek word for content literally translates to bring out to not.

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To treat someone so as to demonstrate that he is nothing, to despise them so much so to see them as valueless.

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You see, this is the wicked sin of self -righteousness, to view yourself as separate from others to the extent that they are nothing.

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God is the one who is holy. He is the one who is separate from all creation. But the Pharisee says, I am separate,

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I am above these men, I am righteous like you, God, therefore these men are nothing compared to me.

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If we aren't careful to remind ourselves of the truth of the gospel and the grace of God, we too can quickly find ourselves standing next to this

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Pharisee. How you look upon others reveals your true heart posture. It reveals your true understanding of the gospel.

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In the same way that the Pharisee looks at the extortioners, the unjust, the adulterers, when you look at gays, transgenders,

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LGBTQ, prisoners, drug addicts, people that publicly demonstrate the total and utter depths of human depravity, do you look at them with valuelessness or content?

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Do you look at them as nothing compared to you? Do you mock them in their sin and make jokes about their carnality?

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Do you view them as too unworthy of God's grace? Because we're not saved by our works but by the work of Christ alone, the gospel drives us to our knees in humility.

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You were once just as spiritually dead apart from Christ as they are. Ephesians 2 .1 says you were dead in your sins and transgressions, but God made you alive together in Christ.

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It is God and God alone who receives the glory and credit for salvation. Therefore, we have no grounds for self -righteous content of others like this

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Pharisee. The only thing you contributed to your salvation was your sin, meaning the only thing separating you from the most vile, wicked, and wretched sinner is the grace of God.

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The arm of the Lord is not too short to save. Salvation belongs to the Lord. When we see these people in public, people that are living the most licentious lifestyles or people that publicly demonstrate the total and utter depths of human depravity, we should pray that the grace of God would convict them of their sin, draw them to repentance and faith in Christ, spiritually regenerate them from death to life, and adopt them as sons for all of eternity as he has done for us.

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So we've seen how justification by faith, it destroys our hope in a workspace righteousness, and we've seen how justification by faith destroys our pride in the way that we view others.

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Now we will come to the exact opposite. The Pharisee was adored by Jewish society.

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He was the most revered and beloved among men. He was seen as the most righteous person on all the earth.

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But now we see a man who is the most despised in society, and when he comes to the temple, the very presence of Yahweh, he has a totally different response.

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It says in verse 13, but the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but he beat his breast, saying,

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God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Firstly, the location, like we talked about with the

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Pharisee, he stood as close as he could to the Holy of Holies to show his proximity to God. But the tax collector, he is far off.

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The Greek word being makrathon, he is afar, he is distant, he is way out on the outer edge of the temple, as far away as you can be from the

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Holy of Holies. He does not see himself as even worthy of being associated with God.

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In fact, he sees how different he is from the very nature of God, and he demonstrates his comprehension of this distance between God and himself through the great distance that he stands away from the presence of God in the temple.

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Secondly, he would not even lift up his eyes to heaven. The Pharisee's posture, it was open, it was loud, and it was boastful.

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But the tax collector's posture, it was closed, it was lowly, and he was looking down.

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The tax collector is overcome by guilt in the presence of God, and he sees himself as too unworthy to even look in the very direction of God.

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And thirdly, as he cries out to God, he beats his breast. Breastbeating was a sign in Jewish culture that was representative of extreme suffering, anguish, and mourning.

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It was actually very rare that this would ever really happen in Jewish culture, but if it was ever seen, it was only ever done by women during times of extreme suffering, such as at the death of a loved one at a funeral.

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This gesture of breastbeating was never seen being done by men. And the only other occurrence in the entire

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Bible where we see this posture and gesture of breastbeating is in Luke chapter 23, after the death of Christ.

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It says that the people who gathered to watch the crucifixion returned home beating their breasts. One Jewish scholar remarking on the rarity of this gesture writes that after a study of Jewish literature for over 20 years,

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I almost never find the gesture of beating one's breast anywhere in all my studies, which can only lead me to conclude that it must take something of the magnitude of Golgotha to evoke this gesture from Jewish men.

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So as the tax collector is far off, as he's looking down, as he's beating his breast, he cries out,

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God be merciful to me, a sinner. What we are witnessing here, by the efficacious power of the

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Holy Spirit, is the tax collector's first true encounter with the holiness of God. For the first time in his life, he has a biblical understanding of who

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God is. He sees the unrivaled righteousness of God, that he is perfect in all his ways, that God has done no wrong.

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And he sees for the first time his sin for what it is, that he, as one theologian has committed cosmic treason against his very creator, that he, from his very first breath to this very moment, has only lived in hostility to God.

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And he is not just unlike God, he understands that he is the very enemy of God because of his sin.

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And the tax collector, he melts here before the bar of God's justice and brokenness, terror, and mourning, because he knows that a loving

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God, who loves what is good, must act in accordance with his character, that he can by no means clear the guilty, that he must punish evil.

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The tax collector sees his unquestionable guilty verdict, and that everything he's ever done has only fallen short of the glory of God.

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And he comes to the very end of himself that his own deeds could ever save, abandoning all confidence in the flesh.

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For the first time, the tax collector sees himself for what he truly is, a sinner in need of the mercy of God.

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The prophet Isaiah, when he encounters the holy throne of God in Isaiah 6, where the throne of God is flanked by either side by the great seraphim who cover their faces before him,

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Isaiah can only manage but a few words. And he says, woe is me, I'm undone,

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I'm a man of unclean lips. The tax collector, similarly, can only manage but a few words in the presence of Almighty God in the temple, and he cries out,

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God, be merciful to me, a sinner. This is not just a general plea to God for mercy.

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This is not an unspecific and a broad crying out to God for mercy.

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This is a very specific plea. When the tax collector cries out, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, he's actually saying this in the

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Greek. God be propitious to me. God be propitious to me.

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Propitiation is a word and concept that finds its origin in the Old Testament sacrificial system where the high priest would enter the holy of holies and make an atonement for sin through the blood of an animal sacrifice.

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And he would spill that blood on the mercy seat, which was on top of the Ark of the Covenant, and it was here on the mercy seat that the justice of God would temporarily be satisfied through this animal sacrifice.

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Propitiation is an appeasement of God's wrath against sin. Propitiation is an appeasement of God's righteous indignation against evil.

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Propitiation is an atonement for sin. And the tax collector, he would have been familiar with the sacrificial system of the thousands and thousands of animals that were sacrificed in a seemingly endless cycle of Israelite sin needing to be atoned for.

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But he also knew of the temporary nature of it. You see, this is an Old Testament conversion in this parable.

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The tax collector knew of the Old Testament promises and prophecies that told them these animal sacrifices were only shadows of a greater thing to come.

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When he cries out, God be propitious to me, he's not looking to the thousands and thousands of temporary animal sacrifices at the temple.

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He is looking forward to a greater sacrifice to come through the promises of Scripture.

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He is looking forward to the promise of the one in Isaiah 53 who would be pierced for our transgressions, who would be crushed for our iniquities, who upon him would be the chastisement that brings us peace with God.

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He is looking forward to the final solution for sin, the one who will once for all put away the sins of the world and cast them into the sea.

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The one who would be the great high priest that intercedes for his people, the one mediator between God and man, the one who would pour out his blood as the new covenant mercy seat that satisfies the justice of God.

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The tax collector is looking forward to Christ in faith to save him from his sin, and he is crying out,

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God, apply that atonement to me. This is the heart cry of a repentant sinner who has placed his faith in Christ.

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This is a genuine conversion through the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians 1, 26 through 30 reads this, for consider your calling, brothers.

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Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth.

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But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

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God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

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You see, the Pharisee needed nothing from God because he believed he had everything he ever needed. He had status amongst men, the praises of others, and he believed that he had a righteousness within himself that would ultimately save him.

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But the tax collector, he has a true brokenness over his sin, and he casts himself upon the mercies of God through the promises of Scripture by looking to faith in Christ to save him from his sin.

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He realized that apart from Christ he had nothing, and that in Christ he had everything. This is why in verse 14 it says the tax collector went home justified.

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The word justified literally translates to being made right with God.

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Man's great need for a divine and perfect righteousness that is required to stand before the holy throne of God is only found in Christ.

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And on the cross, Christ clothes us with a righteousness that is so potent, so pure, and so powerful that it propels us into an eternity of right standing before God the

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Father. If you remember the divine dilemma, how can a sinful man be made right with God, Christ is the answer to the divine dilemma because Christ is the righteousness of God.

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Jesus ends this parable in verse 15 with both a stern warning and a blessed assurance.

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He says for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

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If you are here this morning and your confidence for salvation is in yourself, if you are trusting to your own righteousness, your own inherent goodness, or anything that you've ever done, you are exalting yourself before God and you will be humbled by his justice.

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You have sinned against the creator of the universe and you are in an open war with God. You cannot stand before his holiness, all your works will be exposed to sin, and like the leper you cannot clean yourself up, you cannot work your way back to God, you cannot save yourself.

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But even though you stand condemned for your sin, you are not without hope. There is one who can save to the uttermost, there is one who has dealt with sin once for all and he has not come to save the righteous, but he has come to save sinners.

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In his rich and infinitely deep mercy, God the Father sent his son Jesus Christ to earth, born of a virgin so as not to inherit our sin nature.

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He lived the perfect life that you and I could never live, he resisted every temptation common to man and he fulfilled the law of God so that there would be no work left for us to do to be saved.

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And on the cross, Christ became a curse as he took upon himself every sin that was ever committed by all those who believe in him.

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And to the believer, he closed us in his righteousness from his perfect sinless life that we would be found righteous before God.

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Second Corinthians 5 .21 says God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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As his bride, every drop of God's wrath that we deserve was poured out on Christ. On the cross, the justice of God was satisfied in Christ and the mercy of God was laid upon us.

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And Christ died, was buried, and rose again on the third as a vindication to the world that God the

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Father accepted the atonement of God the Son. And Christ is coming back to judge every person, both the living and the dead.

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And you will either be found guilty apart from Christ or righteous in Christ. If you are not in Christ this morning,

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God freely offers the gift of his Son to you. And like the tax collector, there is no sinner too far for the grace of God.

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Jesus says, all who come to me I will by no means cast out. He will take your sins of scarlet and make them white as snow.

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And though they are like crimson, he will make them white as wool. Turn to the cross, throw yourself upon the mercies of God that have been poured out through Jesus Christ.

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Cling to Christ in repentance and faith for salvation. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself through repentance and faith in Christ will be exalted.

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For there is salvation in no other name except by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.

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Let's pray. Father, what a gracious testament this parable is to your wisdom and the truth of the gospel.

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Apart from your Son, we stand condemned, hopeless, and deserving of your justice.

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It is only through faith in him that we can stand reconciled to you. It's a faith that's exclusive from all else, that trusts in him and him alone for the perfection of our salvation.

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He is the final solution for sin. He is our great high priest, the new covenant mercy seat, and our greatest treasure.

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Would Christ be exalted above all else, for he is our only hope for salvation.