This morning we shall be studying once again out of the Gospel of Luke. We've picked as our topic the various parables of Lord Jesus, and we find a number of them here in Luke's Gospel. But before we look at some of the words of our Lord and Savior, once again let us pray and acknowledge our need of the Holy Spirit's ministry. So let us pray together. Our blessed Lord and Savior, you have promised always to meet with your people. Oh, how we desire your presence. You are the great prophet of the Church, and so might you be pleased to open our hearts and minds to behold wondrous things that you have given to your Church. And, O Lord Jesus, you are the Almighty King. Please protect us from our great adversary who always seeks to distract our worship. always seeks to distract us from receiving your truth. And so come and bless and take your truth and press it down upon us and conform us more into the image of yourself. For your namesake we pray. Amen. There is an often told story about a young woman who went back to her 10-year high school reunion. Now, while she was in high school, she was very much involved in drama. She was a member of the drama club, and so it was no big surprise after she was graduated that she moved to California, specifically to Hollywood, and she attended some acting schools. And soon after that graduation, she landed a few jobs making commercials and cheap films, but she did begin to make it big. And so she starred in a number of very well-known movies at that particular time. She was getting to be a celeb. So she goes to her 10-year class reunion, and of course she makes rather a flashy entrance into that ballroom, and she goes to a group of her old friends, and of course they make all over her because she is this big celeb, you know. And then she begins to talk to them, and she tells them all about her latest movie. She's over in Paris. She's making this film. She is playing with this actor and that actor. Previous to being in Paris, she was over in London. Previous to that, she was someplace else. And she just went on and on about her movies that she had made and all of that. And then suddenly she catches herself. She says, oh me, oh my. Here I've been doing all the talking, and so now I want to hear from you. I want to hear from all of you. Please tell me, what do you think of my movies?" And so you see, there are some people, they just can't get over themselves. They have to be the center and the focus of every conversation. You might possibly know one or two people like that. Well, this morning we look at a man, and he's a very, very religious man, and being such a religious man, you would think that God is the center, the focus of his life. But that's not true. The center and focus of his life is himself. Himself. Well, what can we learn from such a man? Well, we can learn this. that no proud self-righteous man will ever enter into the kingdom of heaven without humbling himself and casting himself solely upon the mercy of God. No proud self-righteous man will ever enter the kingdom of heaven without truly humbling himself. and casting himself upon the mercy of God. And so that comes out in a very well-known parable. You're familiar with it out of this 18th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. It has to do with the Pharisee and the publican, or the Pharisee and the tax collector. And so we pick it up in verse 9 of this 18th chapter of Luke. Also he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you that I am not like other men. extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. The tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." And so as we reflect back on this parable of our Lord Jesus Christ, we'll start first of all by looking at the preface. You notice there's a preface here, or an introduction, or a telling us why the Lord spoke this parable. Again, also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. And so as we begin to break it down, it's also He spoke, and also He spoke, it might be translated, this parable. So is there an indication here that there's some connection with what has preceded? Well, there is that possibility. Well, we go back into the preceding context, and the Lord Jesus spoke a parable about what? About prayer. and about the importance of persevering in prayer. And you remember the story about the unjust judgment, here's this poor little widow, she needs some justice, and she comes and she comes and she pesters and she pesters, and finally the unjust judge says, I can't take it anymore, I'm sick and tired of this dame, I'll do what she wants. And then of course the Lord brings in the fact, hey, hear what the unjust judge said? The point is, God is not an unjust judge. He is truly holy, He is truly righteous, and those who come before Him are His elect people, and He answers His elect people. So you go ahead and persevere, but you do so with the assurance the Lord hears, and the Lord in His time will answer. Well, what about this morning? Well, I think we have to say that there's prayer involved here, isn't there? You have two men who pray. Well, what's it about? Well, for one thing, it seems to have something to do with the attitude of prayer. The attitude. Two men, two different attitudes, are set forth in their praying. Well, we go back and we open up with paraphrases best we can, and you notice, he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves. And so I think we can see here, he spoke this parable to some. Well, there were a number of people there, undoubtedly his disciples, there were scribes, there were Pharisees, but yet he seems to focus in upon some, upon particular people he has in mind here. And so can't we say that there are times when a particular aspect of the truth of God needs to be put forth to some particular people? And haven't you said yourself with reference to someone, well, you know what? I really, really need to speak to that person about what they're doing. It's not right. It's sin. I really need to talk to them about that. Something particular. You're bringing a particular aspect of the truth of God upon a particular problem, a particular sin in someone's lives. And the Lord Jesus is doing that. Of course, we know here He has in mind the Pharisees, that terrible sin of self-righteousness. And again, we might bring in the point that when God deals with people, when He brings them to Himself, He does convict them of particular sins. Now, you were brought into saving union with Jesus Christ. Yes, the Holy Spirit did convict you that you were a sinner. He did convict you of a number of sins, but would I be wrong in saying there was one or two particular sins that He deeply convicted you about? And you know you needed forgiveness. That particular sin, oh God, God, forgive me. God, grant me repentance." Maybe it was the sin of lying. You just lie, lie, lie. You didn't need to lie. Maybe it was a particular sin of lust. You couldn't look at a woman without some wild idea in your mind. Oh, God, forgive me. And so the Holy Spirit zeroed in on that. And it hasn't stopped. As a believer in your sanctification, from time to time you fall into a certain area, and does not God come and trouble you? Does He not deal with you? Does He not bring you to repentance? And so here, He spoke this parable to some. What did they do, these particular people? Well, they trusted in themselves. There were people who had confidence in themselves, you might translate it. that they were righteous and despised others. In other words, they thought that somehow they could merit salvation, they could keep the law, or they had a connection with family. You remember John the Baptist came down more than once. Don't begin to say, I've got Abraham as my father. That bloodline isn't going to save you. You need to personally repent of your sin. But yet these Pharisees, some of them thought, you see, that, well, they could keep that law. And you remember the apostle Paul, he said in Philippians, he was that Pharisee of the Pharisees before the law, blameless. In other words, as far as the externals of the law were concerned. And so he's speaking to some here. who trusted they were righteous, and they despised others." Quite often those two things go together. Pride, self-righteousness, and look at this scum over here. There's a looking down, and the Pharisees did that in John 7. They made the statement, well, these people that don't know the law, they're cursed. And so he has a particular message here. Well, all can hear, and it's good for everyone, because you say, maybe there's no Pharisees. Now, yes, there are Pharisees. There are those people, perhaps you've met them as you try to speak to them and bring in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, they'll say, you know, I'm not perfect, but certainly God wouldn't send me to hell. I do a lot of good things. And it's still true today with reference to the cross. Oh, it's a scandal. Oh, it's foolishness. Look, I don't need to hear about Jesus Christ and His death and all that. I'm okay. I can stand before God as I am. I haven't done any really bad things. I've done a lot of good things. So you see, here's a message for those who trust in themselves. And it reminds us, you see, not by works of righteousness which we have done, no, but by His mercy we're saved. And it reminds all of us, we who are believers, that a man is saved only, only by the righteousness of Christ, not by his own. And so there is a preface. Well, we move on from the preface and we want to look at a couple of men. A couple of men. And so you notice verse 10, two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. And so maybe Jesus was in the temple area at this time. I'm not sure, but He was there a number of times. He did speak, He did preach there in the temple. And so two men went up to the temple to pray. This was in the mind of those who were listening. They knew all about that temple, that glorious temple, you see, that Herod had put up. And it just astounded the disciples. Even they said to the Lord, look at these stones. And they were shocked when he said, there won't be one left upon another in due time. And so let's imagine we're standing at the steps of the temple, and we see, yes, a number of people coming. They go up, say, to pray, and there were three times of prayer, set prayer, 9, 12, and 3. People would go up to pray at those times, especially. And so here are two men going up, and what can we say? Well, they're both religious men. They're all Jewish men, and so they're going up to the temple, and they're going to pray, and certainly that's good. You remember Jesus said, my Father's house is a house of prayer. And so two men go up to the temple to pray. One, a Pharisee. The other, a tax collector or the old King James Republican. What about this Pharisee? Well, he was He was really a special guy, very, very religious man. And, of course, there's dispute about the etymology of the word, but the word Pharisee carries with it the thought of separation. And so here we have one of these separated ones. He separates himself, you know, from all kinds of sin, separates himself from anything that would defile him, separates himself as much as he can from just the common riffraff of society, you see. And it's believed it was started during the captivity. Maybe it started off with a real concern about the law and obedience to the law. But it soon moved over into what we might call formalism. In other words, all the outward arrangements of religion. But no heart. No heart for God. But you go through the externals. And you remember how the Lord Jesus, He confronted these people. He did so numerous times. He did so in the Sermon on the Mount. He did so in Matthew chapter 23, where He calls them a bunch of hypocrites. But just listen to a few of the words of our Lord Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount. Verse 20, He says in the 5th chapter, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. And you and I sitting here this morning, we don't realize what a shocking statement that was. The scribes, the Pharisees, they were the epitome of holiness, the epitome of godliness. The people so looked up to them. Oh, I could never be like them. But he says, except your righteousness far, far, far really exceeds that of the Pharisees, you'll not enter the kingdom of heaven." Well, what was this righteousness they had? Well, as I said, it was something external, you see. And then the Lord Jesus exposes things when He touches upon various commandments from the law. And so He brings in this matter, you shall not commit murder. Well, the Pharisees say, I never committed murder. What about the hatred you keep stirred up in your heart? He speaks about adultery. I've never done that. What about the way you look and you lust at women? You see, you could be a Pharisee. You could be meticulous in the outward observance of the law and have a rotten heart. Just a wicked heart. You could hate, you could lust, you could envy, you could covet, but as long as you were at the right place, as they say, at the right time, you were at the place of prayer, you were okay. Whereas a true disciple is very much concerned about his heart. As a true disciple, you were concerned about your heart all this past week. And again and again, O Lord God, how could I think that? O Lord God, how could I desire that? O Lord God, please forgive me. And we pray again and again when we come to worship, O Lord, might I do so with a sincere heart. I don't want to simply go through some external motions. And so here is this Pharisee. He goes to the place of prayer. Well, that's a good place. That's the proper place. But then there's someone else. He's referred to here as a tax collector. And immediately, this tax collector, he was one hated man. Throughout Israel, they were hated individuals. Why? Well, for one thing, they worked for the Roman government. The Jews hated those Romans. Hated the fact that they had rule over them. Hated the fact that they had invaded their land. And so what he was doing, he was making money off his fellow Jews. The Roman government, just like any government, it needed taxes. It needed big time taxes in that day and age. And so they would hire out, or we might say they would lease out, certain areas to Jews who were responsible to gather taxes, and sometimes you'd have what we call a chief tax collector, and he would have men under him. The Roman government required so much, but yet you know the tax collectors would go way beyond that, because whatever they got beyond that went in their pockets, and we read the number of them. They were quite wealthy. Now I remember, as a boy, this would be back in the 40s, we lived in a housing area in Wichita, Kansas. And I don't know if you've ever heard of them, but that day and age they had what they called assessors. In other words, once a year you'd have the county assessor come out into our community and what he would do, he'd knock on the door and they had a list of things, if you had these things, that they taxed you for them. And so word would get out in this housing area, the assessor's coming, the assessor's coming. So I remember my mom and even neighbors, man, they'd start certain items, they'd stash them up in the closet. And the assessor, do you have this? No. Do you have this? Well, how old is this? Oh, a hundred years old. Just lie? Why? Well, it helped your taxes, you see, lower your taxes. They assessed you for the possessions in your house. And so here, here is this tax collector, and he is one hated man. But yet, you notice he's at the temple. He's gone up to the temple to pray. Well, we move from these two men. And as we stand there in the temple area, we want to hear them pray. These two men are going to pray, you see. So in the third place, this matter of prayer. You notice, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. And it was normal in that day and age, you would stand to pray. The publican, he stands to pray. But it says, he stood thus with himself. Maybe he stood away from the other people. We assume there might be a fair crowd of people at the time of prayer. And so we listen to his prayer. He prayed thus with himself. God, I thank you that I am not like other men. extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. And so right on the service, well, he does express thanksgiving to God. But what might be the motive for this thanksgiving? I assume you in your prayer time, you thank God, and would it be totally wrong to thank God that by His restraining grace He's not allowed you to extort, to be unjust, or to be an adulterer. Wouldn't you thank God for that? And if you're really honest and you look back over the past few weeks, don't you have to say, God, thank you. Thank you for restraining me that that did not come out of my mouth. Thank you, God, that I didn't do that. Oh, the consequences would have been terrible. And if I lived then in that age and I heard this, I might say, oh, Lord, I'm very thankful you restrained this man because I wouldn't want him to extort me. I thank you, Lord, for restraining this man that he hasn't committed adultery and broken up any families. Then you notice he tells the positive aspects. He said, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And so this man was in a class all by himself, wasn't he? I mean, you might ask the question, how did God ever make it before he came along? Just a lot of people today, you wonder, well, how did the church exist before they came along? And so you see what he's doing here, he's picking up on the traditions of men. And so we have a little lesson here that reminds us the law of God is freedom. You see, I fast twice a week. God required fasting once a year on the Day of Atonement, and it was finished at sundown. That's all God required. But men, you see, they have their laws and their binding and they add to them and they add to them. You think of our own society and all this political correctness and all this and all that, before long I'm in a little straitjacket, you see. That's not the law of God. The law of God gives us freedom. Yes, there's responsibility, but there is freedom. And He is, I tell you, He is this tither. goes way beyond whatever God requires you see. And so he is commending himself to God, isn't he? In essence saying, God, what a good boy I am. You should really be proud of me. But then you notice, or even as this tax collector, Now how did he know that this fellow standing afar off was a tax collector? Maybe they had an acquaintance. Maybe the tax collector had collected from him. I really don't think in that day and age that a tax collector wore a uniform saying tax collector. No, but somehow he knew. And this guy was despised. He looked down on this guy. He must be a really terrible, terrible person. And so there you have the prayer of this Pharisee. Well, we look at the prayer of the tax collector. And it won't take long. Pretty short, isn't it? You notice? And the tax collector's standing far off. He's standing far off, I assume, from the Pharisee. Maybe he's standing far off from a group of people who might be praying. Very well could be the tax collector would go to the temple rather than to a local synagogue, because there he would obviously be recognized and people would make faces at him. So maybe he goes to the temple. You see, there would be a larger crowd there, especially at the hours of prayer. Maybe he could somewhat get lost in the crowd. But he stands afar off, and you notice what it says. He would not raise his eyes to heaven. He just couldn't look up. And then it says, beat upon his breast. Now, have you ever, in some kind of agony, beat upon your breast? I know watching this March Madness, I see these athletes, but that's pride. That's, look at my accomplishment. I'm a big man. But I don't think that's what this tax collector was doing here. He was in some agony. Have you ever been in such agony? that you beat upon your breast. Maybe that was more or less a cultural thing then. But have you been in such agony, such shame, such disgust with yourself, you beat up on the table? God, how could I do that? God, forgive me. You notice what he says. Be merciful to me, sinner. And technically, the word means to be propitious. In other words, Lord God, can you find a way to put away your wrath? He felt that wrath. And as you've heard before, there's the article there. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. the sinner. He's in that temple, and he feels himself to be the biggest sinner in the world. And haven't you felt that way at times? You've even come to the place of worship. You looked around at other people. You know they're not perfect. In fact, you may know about some of their sins. But yet as you sit there, you say, you know what? I'm worse. I'm worse. I'm the worst sinner sitting here in this auditorium today. Oh, Lord God, have mercy. Please have mercy. And so there's the prayers. Well, fourth place, there's a pronouncement made. Jesus says, I tell you, this man, referring to that tax collector, went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. And so that tax collector, he went home justified man. To be justified means to be declared righteous. Went home a righteous man. But you had the Pharisee. How did he go home? Well, probably just like he came, proud as a peacock. In fact, he might have even felt better after going to the temple. Why? Because he got to go and people saw him. And he could pray and they could see him. You remember the Pharisees, the Lord condemned them. They'll stand on the street corner and pray. They want everybody to hear. And maybe when he left the temple, you know, they have a place there where you can put some money. He holds it up and lets it clang. He probably felt better about himself. People got to see him, and Pharisee loves to be seen. Pharisee loves to be heard. Pharisee just can't get enough of being in front of people, you see. But here's the tax collector. He goes home justified. It very well could be that the Spirit of God gave him that assurance. He is a forgiven man. He humbled himself. He humbled himself, he was desperate. There's only forgiveness from God. There's only an acceptable righteousness that God can give. And all those sacrifices, picture that. Something without blemish, without spot. That's what was needed for a sacrifice. And that's what was needed by the sinner. He needed to be spotless before God. God supplied that through His Son. And so the question is, you can reflect upon how will you leave this assembly today? Well, it could be some of you leave tired and grumpy just like you came. You didn't want to be here. You're glad it's over. Now you can do something maybe you like. Maybe you'll leave feeling pretty good about yourself after all you did your duty. You're supposed to go to church and you can tell people, I went to church Sunday. For some of you, the prayer of the tax collector, God be merciful to me, the sinner. is a prayer you're well familiar with. You're very familiar with it. That prayer comes forth from your heart time and time and time again in some form or fashion throughout the week. You're very much aware of your sinfulness. And it's no strange thing for you to call out, God, be merciful. God, forgive me. and you did it this hour. So you can depart justified." Well, you see, that's the display of having been justified. You acknowledge your sin. You continue to acknowledge your sin. And so the man who truly humbles himself, acknowledges his sin, by the grace of God can depart. with the assurance of forgiveness. Amen. Let us pray together. Our Lord God Almighty, we are most thankful to you that you've not left us to ourselves, but you've deeply troubled us, troubled us in our innermost being as regards our sins, our sins in particular. You did give us no rest nor peace until we cried to you. And we're thankful that in Jesus Christ, we do find forgiveness, we find peace, we find rest. We are mindful of those amongst us who yet sit in their sins, sit in their rebellion. Might you be pleased to humble them, Lord God, and grant to them repentance unto life. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.