The Pharisee brought his considerable good works before God, but left still on the road to hell. The Publican brought his sins before God and, pleading for mercy, went home justified!
To be justified is to be declared without sin, perfectly innocent and acceptible to God. Jesus' teaching was foretold in the Old Testament, when God describes clothing His people with robes of Righteousness and garments of salvation.
Paul explains in great detail how God saves the ungodly who do not work for their salvation, but believe on Him Who justifies them by faith in His promises. God refuses to credit their sins against them, but declares sinners innocent for Jesus' sake.
The Gospel is not merely that God justifies the ungodly by faith, but that He does so by the bloodshedding of His Son at Calvary.
The Holy and Righteous God can be just and yet justify sinners, because their sins have been judged in Jesus' body and blood on the cross.
There is a warning in Jesus' teaching: that the pride of a good person in his own self-righteousness will send him to hell forever, because he will not abandon his works when he comes before God.
And to Believers, a caution: our good works even now are not our own, but are the works of Christ imputed to us! There is no basis for pride in the Believer - only admiration for the perfections of Christ given to us!
Christ's sacrifice and obedience are what we boast in! His are the works that save us, and not our own.
How privileged we are over the Publican - he could not understand how God could be just and have mercy upon him, but we can. The full Gospel is revealed in Jesus, and pictured at the Lord's Table. He died for us!
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John Pittman Hey was born in 1961 in Jackson, Mississippi, to Godly parents who from the beginning raised him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. With child-like faith he came to Christ on his fourth birthday at his mother's knee. He received his education at church...
#17 - Top Played Sermon (48-Hours) on 6/5/2016
