The scripture reading this morning is found in Philippians chapter one. Philippians chapter one. Verse, well there's a, in the ESV, there's a break right in the middle of verse 18. And we will begin there if you're looking at an ESV. right under that heading, to live is Christ. And that beginning down through verse 30. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. He was in prison, of course. As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed. but that with full courage now, as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, That means fruitful labor for me, yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I'm hard-pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith. so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents, This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake. Engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now here, that I still have, and there again is the word of God. The Christian life, suffering with Christ, engage in the same conflict that the Apostle Paul and Christ and all other faithful believers go through. Well, let's ask the Lord's blessing then on the ministry of his word as we come to Luke chapter 18, and still another parable drawn from the Gospel of Luke. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that you sent the living word, the Lord Jesus, into this world to reveal the Father to us. And thank you that you have inscripturated this word, his words, and the words of your apostles inspired and directed inerrantly by the Holy Spirit, that we might have your, that we might have this book, this amazing book containing your truth that we only grasp in small part, but we thank you, Father, that we can open up the book and read your words, that we can hear your words preached, and that that word is powerful, that by your Spirit, you work your work of sanctification in us, and you even use the proclamation of your word to turn on the lights in the minds and hearts of people walking in darkness that don't know Christ yet. And so, Father, as we come to this account, spoken by your Son, we pray that you would give us understanding that where you would have specific application to our own lives, he would enable us to make that application. Even if it mean repentance, that we would repent. And if it means encouragement, that we would be encouraged. And we pray this all in Christ's name, amen. Well, the text then, I feel like I'm forgetting something. Did I skip over anything? I didn't see arms waving or anything like that, but the text is Luke, the Gospel of Luke, which we've come to, and it's chapter 18, verses nine through 14. Luke chapter 18, verses nine through, I'm in John, just a moment here. I forgot, that's what I forgot. I forgot to turn to the right book. Luke chapter 18, verses nine through 14. This is the parable or the account that Jesus gave of the Pharisee. and the tax collector. And it is a brief parable, as most of his parables were, but loaded with real spiritual power. We know from scripture, and we just read an example of that in Philippians chapter one, that we suffer with Christ, we are engaged in the same battle as him. Another passage in scripture is, I think this one's out of 1 Timothy, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. That's the Christian life. Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. That's why last week, we considered this matter of Christ telling us, if you're gonna follow me, you've gotta take up your cross and follow me. You have to die to yourself and follow me. Well, yeah, so what we're doing as we come to the Gospel of Luke is we're examining portions of it in this little sub-series of the big series of the Gospel of Luke. But this sub-series that we're beginning with concerns the cost of following Christ and being challenged to count that cost. You know, many people are, professing Christians are concerned with this matter of assurance. How can I know that I'm saved? How do I know that I'm saved? And it's a valid question. But what isn't valid is the typical answer that's usually given. How can I know I'm a Christian? Well, did you believe in Christ? Yes. Then you're saved, you're a Christian, and it's a sin to doubt that. So stop doubting that, you see. And yet what happens to a real Christian anyway when you hear that given as an answer? You walk off? And you doubt, you still haven't got the meat of it, you see. Well, if we would have assurance that we really know Christ, and more importantly, that he then knows us, this is an excellent place to begin. It has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake. It doesn't mean you must believe in him and take a whip and beat your back. It's that if you truly believe in Christ, if you truly have genuine faith and you're born again, you will suffer for his sake. And you will be, verse 30 here, engaged in the same conflict. that we see in the scripture that Paul, that Paul went through, you see, this will happen. Why? Well, we're in enemy territory. This is, this is a battle and this will happen. The world And you know, maybe, are you a person that just, I must be popular, I must be liked, there's some of that in all of us, isn't there? I mean, it's no fun to be hated. Well, here's news, the fact of the matter is, as long as we're in this world, the world hates us. Worldlings hate Christ, and that's why worldlings, earth dwellers, as Revelation calls them, hates Christ's people and works and works and works to stamp out the church, stamp out Christ's people and stamp out the gospel. So the question, just put the question to yourself, am I experiencing many tribulations? Am I suffering for his sake? Am I engaged in the same battle? that Paul was, or as you've heard me put it many times, has my profession of faith in Christ ever cost me anything? Does it cost me anything? Or am I still popular and friends then with the world? Well, here's this account of two men, one of whom was not willing to pay the price, the cost of following Christ. Salvation's a free gift. The free gift, however, is going to result in us having to pay everything. What will it cost me to follow the Lord? Well, in one sense, nothing. Believe in Christ, you'll be born again. But when you are born again and you follow him, It's gonna cost you everything, you see. That is what the scripture tells us. Well, here's the account. Follow as I read. Luke 18, verses nine to 14. He also told that his Christ told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector and sometimes called a publican. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. What would be her response? Case comes up here and gives the morning prayer, right? And he says, God, I thank you that I'm not like all this stuff, this rabble out here, you know. But that's what this guy was doing. He's in the temple. There are other people besides these two that are there. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner." And of course, I can't imitate. If he was beating his breast and looking down, he didn't just say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I would imagine he was in great grief and anguish speaking rather loudly, I don't think he was whispering. And then Jesus draws it together. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. So you see here then that Christ bestows the free gift of salvation only to those people who realize that they're need of it. People who admit their lost condition and that they are under the wrath of God, that they're cursed, as Sproul pointed out then this morning. When the Bible says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, the opposite is true, right? There is therefore No blessing for those who are not in Christ Jesus, and they remain under his condemnation. Now let's talk about Jesus' target audience here. Who's he talking to? He told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. So here's the purpose of his parable. He's exposing them. He is exposing the wicked presumption of self-righteous people like the Pharisees and probably the crowd, I think I have a quote here a little bit later from William Hendrickson on this, probably his crowd that he's speaking to is largely Pharisees, you see. One thing about Jesus that should be clear to anyone that gives scripture an honest hearing, and that is that Jesus was no preacher that made people happy, happy, happy. Everybody, everyone happy. They were ready to stone him, you know, and ultimately then they killed him. This parable didn't make the Pharisees happy. Pharisees were self-righteous. They trusted in themselves, as he puts it, in their own good works. They saw no need for righteousness from God, because really God was not that holy to them. They put on a show that he was, but apparently the God that they worshipped would have been quite satisfied with their own level of self-made righteousness. They saw no need for a savior because they were their own savior. They refused to pay the price of giving up themselves and dying to themselves. And of course, even as we read those words from the parable, we all realize and think of many such people today who profess to be Christians, and they are just absolutely certain. In fact, they will gnash their teeth at you if you even imply that maybe then they are not saved. Why do they think that they're saved? They think that because they are righteous themselves. With what righteousness? Their own righteousness. They've manufactured their own counterfeit righteousness and they see no need then for any other standard of righteousness. They don't need to be perfectly righteous because God himself, really what they're saying is that God is not all that holy, holy, holy, as the Bible says. God is, he's malleable, he's like clay. And we can fashion him into a God that we like, that covers, that cuts us some slack. That's the God that most people worship. It's the God that is proclaimed. in so many churches today. You know, if you think about it, this is kind of amazing, the Jews have always been idolaters, right from the get-go. They are, of course, Abraham came from an idolatrous nation God called Abraham, but it didn't take long as the seed of Abraham, as his descendants grew and so forth and ultimately ended up in Egypt. We think of the Israelites because they're suffering and they're in slavery and so on in Egypt. who have been godly, but in fact, they were idolaters even then. That's where they got the idea of making this golden calf. They can call it Yahweh, they can call him the Lord all they want, but in fact, what they're doing then is pursuing idols. The ink wasn't even wet. The ink was still wet on the Ten Commandments. And here they are, worshiping idols then all along. These Pharisees, like this one, they're idolaters. They've fashioned God. into a false God in many different ways. And so Jesus is speaking this parable to those same kind of self-righteous ones who not only regarded themselves as righteous because of what they didn't do and because of what they did, because of their works, but they also viewed other people with contempt. Have you known people like that, people that profess to be Christians? Or maybe you were like that. I hope no one still is. But I can remember as a kid growing up, and I grew up in a home, if you would ask my parents if they're Christians, then they would say they were. And we would go to church most of the time, Sunday school and church on Sundays, and hopped around from church to church. a fair amount, but I can remember one time we lived in West Salem, and we were coming home from church, and we went by a Lutheran church that was nearby the house that we lived in, and some of our, in fact, some of our friends attended that Lutheran church, and we were driving by, and I still, I don't know why I remember these things, but I still remember my mom, who grew up, and she really was, I think, kind of this ilk of viewing others with contempt. And we drove by and she said, just look at those Lutherans. They're standing right outside the church and they're smoking cigarettes, you know. Well, now granted, probably wouldn't want us after church to go out in the parking lot and light up. It's probably not the greatest thing to do. But you see this attitude, viewing others with contempt. And the corollary of that is, but we, we are righteous, you see. Paul rebuked The Jews for this, therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment, this kind of condemning judgment, on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man, you who judge those who practice such things, and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Well, this Pharisee in the parable here, he really thought, oh yeah, I will escape the judgment of God. In fact, he wouldn't even admit that he committed the same sins. Here's that quote from Hendrickson. There's no reason to doubt that Jesus addressed this parable to a group of Pharisees. to those who trusted in themselves and were of the opinion that everybody else amounted to nothing. The parable presents two men, two prayers, and two results. Here is Matthew Henry commenting on the same point. The scope of this parable, likewise, is prefixed to it, and were told, in verse nine, who they were whom it was leveled at, and for whom it was calculated. Christ designed it for the conviction of some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. They were such as, by the way, I thought of another illustration there, probably told you before, but, Once years ago, I went to some kind of a conference or whatever at one of the churches here in town. And they had a lady, a lady got up and gave her testimony, her Christian testimony. But her Christian testimony primarily consisted of her boasting about how there were certain things that she didn't do. And she boasted, I remember the one boast she said, these lips have never tasted a drop of alcohol. You know, what an incredible, and as soon as somebody says that, what's she doing? She's viewing others with contempt, contempt. It is most probable that lady wasn't even born again, that she didn't know Christ. That's the kind of thing, you see, that would have been, this would have been a good parable to stand up and read at that moment. Well, Matthew Henry goes on, they were such as had one, a great conceit of themselves and of their own goodness. They thought themselves as holy as they needed to be, and holier than all their neighbors, and such as might serve for examples to them all. But that was not all. Secondly, they had a confidence in themselves before God, and not only had a high opinion of their own righteousness, but depended upon the merit of it. Whenever they addressed God as their plea, they trusted in themselves as being righteous. They thought that they had made God their debtor and might demand anything from him. Third, they despised others and looked upon them with contempt. It is not worthy to be compared with them. Now Christ, by this parable, would show such people their folly. and that thereby they shut themselves out from acceptance with God. This kind of a person viewing themselves as righteous and viewing others with contempt is not born again. They are not accepted by God, and that's what Jesus is showing in this parable. Well, there's two men. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. On the surface of it, in a way, to some degree, this would look, in ways, they would be kind of equal, I guess you would say. If you were an onlooker at that moment, in that place, outwardly, maybe they would look They looked very different. If you knew one was a tax collector, you would know the other one was a Pharisee because they dressed to call attention to themselves. And yet you see these two men, okay, all right, they're going up to the temple. They must be going up to pray. And if you lived back in that day, you would know that each one of them had a particular reputation, right? The Pharisee. The Pharisee would have been like in the days of Martin Luther, in Martin Luther's day. The highest level of holiness that a man could achieve would be to get himself to a monkery and become a monk and to become a priest, you see. Well, that's what this Pharisee and his kind were regarded as, as a model of godliness, you see. You wouldn't have questioned, oh, look at that, the Pharisee. Of course, he's going up to the temple to pray. Man, I wish I could be that holy. And then your gaze might go over to the tax collector. If you knew that that's what he was, you would know that, well, that guy's a traitor. Collaborator with Rome. Rome was, it'd be like if you lived in France in World War II, occupied France, and the occupied the nation. And you were a collaborator then in some way with them because that's what these guys did. For personal gain they turned on their fellow countrymen and collected taxes for Caesar. Here's Hendrickson explaining it. The tax buyers or sometimes I guess they were called farmers, a tax farmer, had paid a fixed sum of money to the Roman government for the privilege of levying tolls upon exports and imports, as well as upon whatever merchandise passed through the region. They had some real similarities to the mafia, right? Pay up, this is my territory, pay up. The farmers, tax collectors, would sublet their rights to chief publicans who employed publicans to do the collecting. They charged whatever the traffic would bear, huge sums. So the publican had the reputation of being an extortionist. If he were a Jew, he was regarded by his fellows as being also a renegade or traitor, for he was serving the foreign oppressor. So the tax collector going up to the temple to pray, he was a despised man. And you would know he was just this great sinner. You would probably conclude that you being a product of your time, that the tax collector was unquestionably this great sinner. And the Pharisee was this eminent picture and model of holiness. The tax collector, what's he doing going into the temple to pray? What's that guy doing going to church? Why would God hear him anyway? But, as the parable shows us, if those were your conclusions, you would be very, very wrong. God sees things much differently than we do. In fact, what's the truth of the matter? Both of those men were sinners in God's sight. And in fact, most likely, if not when he was entering into the temple, By the time he came out of it, most likely the Pharisee in God's sight was the greatest sinner of the two. It was the Pharisee's prayer that the Lord would not hear. So there's two men going to the same place. both with the intent, at least outwardly, of praying, both of them sinners, and yet there is a huge difference, the difference between heaven and hell, in the motivations of their heart, and God knows it, God knows it. The self-righteous person, like this Pharisee, they actually think that they can put one over on God, right? It's obviously this guy, he was a sinner, he had all kinds of sins in his life, but he's covering it up with his so-called works of righteousness. And it's like, would God say, I bet there's phrases in the Bible where God virtually says this, how stupid do you think I am? Apparently this kind of person thinks God is pretty stupid. Well, here's the Pharisee's prayer, verses 11 and 12. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. Now, I've seen, and I imagine perhaps you have too, maybe to some degree in our past, maybe we've done that ourselves, but I've seen self-righteous, arrogant Christians just like this Pharisee, physically distance themselves from people that they regard as lower than themselves from someone they hold in contempt. Here is a sinner. They are beneath me. And I've seen them fail to greet such a person. They won't talk to them. And I've seen them, these kind of people, I have literally seen on more than one occasion, arrogant, pharisaical people like this actually get up and leave the room. And in one case, I talked to one of those people. In two cases, I talked to people afterwards. In one case, it was a matter of, I had taught a Bible study for a long time. in these people's home, and they were fairly wealthy and so on. They thought they were Christians, but time would tell that they're not. The last contact I had with the lady, the husband died, but the last contact I had with her, she was boasting to me about how she had traveled to South America and went to a conference and met a shaman. i.e. witch doctor there, and was given such great spiritual insights. Well, she, in particular, one evening when I was teaching the Bible study and some other people that I knew had come. And they were kind of poor and different and so forth, but they had come. And afterwards, I overheard this lady say, I just have trouble with that. I just have trouble with that, you see. What a Pharisee. Regarding these people with contempt. In the other case, it was very similar. Afterwards, the person got up, left the room. And afterward, I talked to them. I just don't have any patience. I can't be around that. You see, and that's the kind of attitude we see here. James 2, if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in. And if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, you sit here in a good place, while you say to the poor man, you stand over there or sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves? and become judges with evil thoughts. And that's what this Pharisee was doing. Notice it says he prayed standing by himself. Now, I think that most likely in the temple, there was more than just him and the tax collector. There was probably numbers of people there, but he was standing by himself and his prayer was no prayer at all. He's not making any request of God. What he's doing, See, two men went up to the temple to pray. One went to pray. The other went to tell God how great he is. Can you imagine? He's telling God, look at how righteous I am. Matthew Henry says, hypocrites keep up the external performances of religion only to gain credit. There are many people whom we see every day at the temple. He means in church. whom it is to be feared we shall not see in the great day at Christ's right hand. It's very common to encounter these kind of people with this self-righteous spirit of entitlement. God, I am entitled to your favor because I'm better. than others. J.C. Ryle writes, the Pharisee's prayer exhibits no sense of sin and need. It contains no confession, no petition, no acknowledgement of guilt and emptiness, no supplication for mercy and grace. It is a mere, I like the way he puts this, it is a mere boasting recital of fancied merits. accompanied by an uncharitable reflection on a brother sinner. They're both sinners, but he won't acknowledge it. It is a proud, high-minded profession, destitute alike of penitence, repentance, humility, and charity. In short, it hardly deserves to be called a prayer at all. And it wasn't, God didn't hear him. except that he would be condemned further for it. This Pharisee refuses to pay the cost of following Christ. In order to follow Christ, he needs to die to himself. He needs to die to his pride, his reputation, his self-righteousness. He would not give this up. When the Apostle Paul, who was a Pharisee, came to a saving knowledge of the Lord, He ceased to be a Pharisee, didn't he? He ceased to be a Pharisee and he, well, Saul of Tarsus became the Apostle Paul. No one is going to turn to Christ for salvation as long as they insist on clinging to their reputation, as long as they cling to arrogance and to entitlement, because they will be trusting in themselves, not in Christ. This Pharisee would never do that. He didn't see any need. He was his own savior. Now, in his prayer, we see false negatives and false positives. This is the basis of his righteousness. He claims that he doesn't commit the sins other people commit. Oh, yes, he does, right? But he doesn't admit it. He doesn't commit injustice. He's not an adulterer. He doesn't extort from people. And then you can imagine him kind of at this point, maybe he's doing it the whole time, but kind of looking out the corner of his eye, or, you know, maybe he's going, like, if God's watching, it's like, you know, pointing to that guy. I'm not like this tax collector. I'm not like him. His thank you to God, he says, God, I thank you. Well, wait a minute, that's not a thank you. I thank you that I'm not like these people. Who's he thanking? He's thanking himself. He's boasting before God. The Pharisee went up to the temple to boast about himself before God and before the people that were there. So his religion was self-exalting. It was an arrogant business of pushing himself before God and then demanding God's favor because of how spiritually great he was. As Hendrickson puts it, actually the Pharisee, his so-called prayer, he's talking about himself to himself. He's congratulating himself, disguising it as a prayer to God, but he's not talking to God. He's praying to himself, and he himself is his own God. The psalmist writes, Psalm 75, I say to the boastful, do not boast, and to the wicked, Do not lift up your horn. Sometimes, you know, we'll say, and I don't know if there's exact parallel, but it's like, man, that guy's blowing his own horn, right? Look at me. Look at me, right? Do not lift up your horn on high or speak with a haughty neck. You know, it's a haughty look and tilt of a person's head. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. Well, see, in his quest for holiness, and it's a false holiness. What's he do? It's what the Pharisees did. He goes beyond the law. God didn't command that people fast twice a week. And we know that the Pharisees, you know, we even tithe on the smallest portion of herbs from our garden. But it was all meant to exalt themselves. His prayer is a demand that God thank him. It's like, God, look at me. I thank you, but really what he wants is to hear from heaven, oh, thank you, thank you, Mr. Pharisee. You're such a, you are just amazing. Here's J.C. Ryle again. Never are men's hearts in such a hopeless condition as when they are not cognizant of their own sins. He who would not make shipwreck on this rock, self-righteousness, must beware of measuring himself by his neighbors. What does it signify that we're more moral than other people? We are all vile and imperfect in the sight of God. If one wished to dispute with God, he could not answer him once in a thousand times, Job 9. Let us remember this. In all our self-examination, let us not test ourselves by comparisons with other men. Let us look at nothing but the requirements of God. He who acts on this principle will never be a Pharisee. This Pharisee then was as much of a sinner as the tax collector, probably even a greater sinner. He was headed for hell. There are greater sinners sitting in a church, if they're hypocrites, on Sunday mornings than there are out there in the world. Because there's really, I think, no greater sin before God than to play the hypocrite and come into his church, as this guy went into the temple, and boast, then, about one's own sin. Self-righteousness. Some years ago, and some of you were here, some years ago, this guy showed up for several Sundays. We could tell he wouldn't last. He's an older guy, should have known better by then. But he put on quite the display. He would always sit up here in the front pew. And he was animated during the sermon, and he was full of compliments and so forth afterwards. And I remember he, I mean, he literally, when the offering box, you know, would be up here, then afterwards, he literally made sure that I was there when I stand there and he got my attention, he would walk over with his check and put it in just like that, you know. And as soon as we had an interview with the guy and told him that, well, we need to know what church you went to before and where you've been and so on, he disappeared, never came back, never came back again. He was self congratulating himself. And he's building, he is maybe a chief of sinners, you see, that kind of person. This Pharisee then, as he's looking with contempt upon the tax collector, he has no regard for his own sin, he's actually pretending he doesn't have any. And in his prayer, he never asked God to forgive him for his sin. When the Lord Jesus taught us to pray, called the Lord's Prayer, but it's really our prayer that we're praying. It includes confession of sin and asking for God's forgiveness. Here's an example. William Hendrickson has it in his commentary. This is an actual prayer of a Pharisee that we have existing, written in the time of Jesus. It goes like this. I thank thee, Jehovah my God. Apparently they spoke in King James language. I thank thee, Jehovah my God, that you have assigned my lot with those who sit in the house of learning, and not with those who sit at street corners. I rise early, and they rise early, but I rise early to study the words of the Torah, and they rise early to attend to things of no importance. I weary myself, and they weary themselves, but I weary myself and gain thereby, while they weary themselves without gaining anything. I run, and they run. I run toward the life of the age to come, while they run toward the pit of destruction. See, semi-truths all wrapped up though in hypocrisy and self-righteousness. And we need to be aware of that, right? We need to be aware of that ourselves, that in our own sinful flesh, one of the sins that remains in us that we have to battle and put to death by the spirit in us is this self-righteousness, this regarding ourselves as superior to others. Every single one of us was born into this world dead in sin, cursed by God. And if we know Christ now, it is only because of his mercy that he got ahold of us and we were born again and that we were saved. There's nothing to boast about except what? Boast in the Lord. Here's the prayer of the publican, the tax collector, in contrast. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but beat his breath, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. You look at this standing. We're told that the Pharisee was standing by himself. You know, maybe even distancing himself some from the crowd. And there was a boldness about him, a wicked boldness that, I don't know all the layout of the temple there, but he probably walked up closer to the holy place and the holy of holies there than maybe anybody else. You know, I can just march into the presence of God. But the tax collector, well, he's standing far off. He knows that he does not have any right to draw near to God, all right? He knows that. This is a true prayer, and God heard it. This is a man praying who was guilty, and he was guilty. He was a great sinner. He's tax collectors. He was an extortionist. He did rip people off and treat them unjustly. We've got another tax collector that was saved, right? Zacchaeus? Wasn't Zacchaeus a tax collector? Immediately he says, I'll repay, and he repents of all of this. But this tax collector, by the mercy of God, is evidencing true conviction and repentance. God, in his mercy, had brought the terrors of the law down upon this man so that at this point when we see him going to the temple he is under the crushing weight of the reality of his sin and his condemnation by God. That's how Pilgrim's Progress opens, by the way. I saw a man with a burden on his back and a book in his hand, right? And so here he is, he's weighed down, and he knows it, and he knows that he's headed for hell, and he knows something else. There's absolutely nothing he can do to fix it. Nothing. There is no payment that he can make to God to deliver himself then from hell. Most people who claim to be Christians today know nothing. of that kind of conviction because they've been taught, they've been presented a false gospel that, you know, God's gracious, he loves everybody, he's merciful, you know, and so, hey, salvation is cheap and easy. All you have to do is pray this prayer, whatever, you see. Here's William Hendrickson again. Being deeply conscious of God's presence, the tax collector takes hold of God in prayer, and from the very depths of his being cries out, oh God, be merciful to me, and it is literally the sinner. He is earnestly and fervently begging God to be, there's the word again, propitiated. He is hungering and thirsting for the one great blessing, And really it's true, isn't it? This is the only real blessing that we can have of any consequence, really. He's hungry and thirsting for the one great blessing, namely, that God's anger may be removed and his favor obtained. His prayer is entirely in the spirit of the hymn, and I think this is Rock of Ages, right? Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. If the Pharisee was thinking only of himself, the tax collector too singles himself out from all mankind, but in an entirely different way. He does not place himself above others. He does not say, for example, oh God, I thank you that I am at least better than most tax collectors, nothing of the kind. He singles himself out as the sinner. He is in this sense, like another Pharisee who would one day say of himself, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, foremost of whom am I? And then the parable ends with the Lord's own conclusion and divine pronouncement upon these two men. I tell you, this man, the tax collector, went down to his house justified rather than the other. Here's the principle, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. And so this sinful man, detested by society and really brought to a point of detesting himself, his prayer was heard. He went into the temple to pray and he came out a new creation. He went in, Somebody else came out. He came out justified. The Lord really had shown him mercy because his prayer, God be merciful to me, a sinner. He knows that the mercy of God is his only hope. That's it. I throw myself on the mercy of the court. I'm guilty. If there it is, I did it, I'm condemned. But my only hope is if the judge shows me mercy. And that's what he found because of Christ. His sins were washed away. And we know that someday, if we know Christ, someday in heaven, we're going to meet this guy. This would be a guy that would be Really interesting to sit down and have a chat with, right? What was it like when you went in and when you came out? Did you notice the Pharisee looking down? He probably didn't even notice the self-righteous Pharisee. And what was it like when you went home? The Pharisee, well, we won't see him there. When he left the temple, He left as he came in, except probably guiltier yet before God. And we are left with the conclusion to doubt that he ever got off Broadway and entered into the narrow way of salvation. Matthew Henry again, what the tax collector said was to the purpose God be merciful to me a sinner and blessed be God that we have this prayer upon record as an answered prayer and that we are sure that he who prayed it went to his house justified and so shall we if we pray it as he did through Jesus Christ. God be merciful to me a sinner. The God of infinite mercy, be merciful to me. For if he is not, I am forever undone and forever miserable. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Here is this great prayer of David, Psalm 28, and we close with it. And I just, I wonder if, I don't know, but maybe The tax collector had been reading this psalm that day before he came. I don't know, but you'll see why I say that. Psalm 28. To you, O Lord, I call my rock. Be not deaf to me, lest if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy. When I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary. Do not drag me off with the wicked, with the workers of evil who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds. Give to them according to the work of their hands. Render them their due reward because they do not regard the works of the Lord or the work of his hands. He will tear them down and build them up no more. Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield. In him my heart trusts and I am helped. My heart exults and with my song I give thanks to him. The Lord is the strength of his people. He is the saving refuge of his anointed. Oh, save your people and bless your heritage. Be their shepherd and carry them forever. Father, we thank you for that psalm and that is our prayer before you today. We pray and as we hunger and thirst for righteousness that we can know that one day You will effect perfect justice upon the wicked, but you will also bless all your people who you have saved. Thank you, Father, that you have shown us mercy by sending the Lord Jesus Christ. If you were not merciful and gracious to us, we would most certainly end in hell. Thank you, Father, that we, well, that your spirit brings sinners to the point, as he did this tax collector, to pray this short, powerful, and necessary prayer. God be merciful to me, the sinner, and we pray this all in Christ's name, amen.